I had a conversation last night with one of our student entrepreneurs. She was learning the hard way about the roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship. After experiencing one her best weeks ever last week, she was faced with perhaps her greatest challenge yet this week. I told her that this is what entrepreneurship is like. It is not the straight line of growth we predict in our financial forecasts or the realization of each milestone with the clockwork precision that our business plans envision.
Some describe it as being like a prize fighter. To make money you have to work really hard knowing that every once in a while you will get your brains knocked out. To me it is like my golf game. It is mostly just trying to move ahead by dealing with some good shots and some bad shots, some lucky bounces and some unlucky ones, and trying to do all of this without losing my soul.
Courage is the entrepreneurial virtue that keeps us level-headed during the highs and keeps us moving forward during the lows.
Fortune Small Business offers the inspirational tales demonstrating the courage of four small business owners who are rebuilding their lives and their businesses in the wake of last fall’s hurricanes.
Jason Perry, Out of the Box Web Productions, New Orleans, LA
Within days of Katrina, Perry faced a serious cash crunch. All through that giddy August, he had been borrowing heavily to buy the equipment to service his new client. He had purchased a phone system and two servers and had leased new computers from Apple and Dell. For all he knew, Katrina had wiped out all his equipment, and he had no idea how he’d make his lease payments.
Donald Ridings, ABS Computers & Satellites, Gulfport, MS
On the morning Katrina hit, Donald Ridings and his wife, Helen, started driving. They had a plan that was both vague and crystal clear: to get far away from Gulfport. The couple own an old New Jersey Transit bus that they’ve converted into an RV, complete with a bedroom, a kitchen, and hot and cold running water. They simply got on I-10 and headed east. “We had no clue where we were going,” says Ridings.
Austin Tindol, Gulf Coast Glycol, Gulfport, MS
The mood was giddy on Aug. 26 as Austin Tindol held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Gulfport. It had taken 18 months to launch Gulf Coast Glycol, an outfit that recycles used antifreeze into reusable antifreeze. Tindol raised a glass of champagne, toasting (their)…a new family business….Within hours, an ominous note had crept in. Weather reports indicated that a hurricane was heading toward the Gulf Coast.
George Brumat, Snug Harbor Bar, New Orleans, LA
When Katrina hit, Brumat took cover in his third-story apartment about a block from the club….Soon the couch was rumbling and bouncing, says Brumat, and the walls were swaying in the 150-mph winds. Looking out the window, he witnessed “roofing tiles flying like sparrows and tall magnolias going down.”
These are just four examples from the thousands of small business owners in the Gulf region who are not giving up on their visions and their dreams. Although they have all suffered through the ultimate low point as entrepreneurs, they are all rebuilding their businesses.
These are the real entrepreneurial heroes. Keep them in your prayers.