Find Your “Big Reasons”

Once, while in the middle of what seemed like an endless series of crises in our business, one of my business partners looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Jeff, if it was easy owning a business, everyone would do it!”

He was right.  A career as an entrepreneur is a long and challenging journey.  There are many sleepless nights worrying about things such as having enough cash to make payroll, firing someone whose worked with you from the beginning even though you know it is the right thing to do, signing that personal guarantee required to get the bank loan you desperately need, or muddling through a business partnership that has gone bad.

“You have to be crazy to start a business,” says entrepreneur and author Barry Moltz.  And yet, every day hundreds and even thousands of people take the seemingly irrational act of starting a new business.  Why do we do it? Continue reading Find Your “Big Reasons”

Can Entrepreneurs Make Good Managers?

There is a commonly held stereotype that entrepreneurs do not make good managers.

This stereotype assumes that the skills and personal traits that make someone a good entrepreneur will in some way prevent them from becoming a good manager.  And it assumes that all entrepreneurs are good at starting things, but when the business begins to grow it is time hire some good executives to come in and take over running the company. Continue reading Can Entrepreneurs Make Good Managers?