The Nashville City Paper ran a cover story yesterday on entrepreneurial bootstrapping written by Candace Moonshower. From her story:
Every generation has its inspirational maxim, and it is not surprising that these sayings are often associated with getting somewhere quickly and achieving something meaningful. Who hasn’t heard ‘Just Do It’?
Back in the day, when men and women wore boots and boots had straps, we were exhorted to pull ourselves up by said bootstraps and achieve the near-impossible through hard work, tenacity and our own initiative.
These days, our boots may be sneakers or flip-flops, but in the midst of hard times, we’re rediscovering our bootstraps.
Hi Dr. Cornwall.
I would love to see a blog post from you about this subject.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/opinion/20krugman.html
I’m a big believer in free markets and property rights, and Ireland has always been pointed out as one of the European countries that “got it” and turned around its entire economy.
But now Ireland is crashing hard.
When I read about something that challenges my belief systems, I don’t like to just ignore it or write it off.
I want my perception of reality to get as close to the “real” reality as possible. Even if that means changing my mind. Because after all, those are the rules I use when I am running my business so that I don’t go broke!
So now I’m wondering, do we need more financial industry regulation?
Even Bogle is arguing for it, using Adam Smith as his argument.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124027114694536997.html
I’d love to hear your insight about where regulation DOES fit in.
I would have emailed you, but I couldn’t find the contact me link, so I just decided to comment instead. You don’t need to publish my comment (although you are welcome to).
I’m a regular reader, and enjoy your blog.
Regards,
Lars
Dr Cornwall,
Great article in the Nashville City paper.
More interesting though, is the synchronicity.
An associate of mine, Rich Christiansen (and his partner Ron Porter) just released a book called Bootstrap Business. It’s a guide book on how to start a business on less than $5,000, and turn it into a million-dollar business while avoiding many of the traps. Rich has founded more than 27 companies over the last few of decades. He practices what he preaches (just last year Rich and Ron formed a company to prove the model. It cleared the million-dollar mark within the year, at a 55% net profit margin).
From what I can tell, you two share very similar ideas and insights. If you get a moment, please visit http://www.BootstrapBusiness.org and see if you agree.
Rich would also be a great resource to you in regards to extending your message and very possibly expanding it as well. I know Rich spends time with Michael Drew of http://www.PromoteAbook.com. If ever there was a time to escalate your message into Bestseller status, this is it.
Thanks for carrying the torch for a new generation of bootstrappers. Those of us in the field thrive when find our message being shared from such lofty platforms.
To your continued success,
Mark Alan Effinger
Chief Evangelist
http://www.RichContent.com
http://www.ThoughtOffice.com