Firsts - The Obstacles When Starting a Business Venture - It's Just Like the Rest of Life

Published in Print Exclusively In the Windham Eagle, Windham Maine - January 22, 2016

 Starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur (for the first time) is not about taking one step at a time, it's about getting beyond the firsts - maybe many first or even a series of first (purposly left singular).  The advice here is when you encounter a first, don't consider the task, consider it as a first - you have done 100s of firsts before.

First Anything - Just Do It

Think about what scares us in life - it's not the doing of something over and over, it's about doing those things for the first time.  But those firsts are more than scary, they also become our most revered and treasured memories. Think about it - Here are some examples of our firsts.

• First Day of School - Elementary, JHS, HS, College
• First Date, first Dance, first Girlfriend/Boyfriend, first Kiss, first Time
• First Love, first Child

• First Job, first Sales Call, first Rejection, first Sale
• (Celebration of the first $Dollar$ pinned or framed on the wall)
• First Business, first Hire, first Office

What's common here?  It's the word first. When we are afraid or scared, it's because it's your first time.  It is not about being insurmountable or impossible - it's just that we have never done it ir been there before.

Remember, your first time at anything has an unknown element to it - the unknowns, by their very nature, at a minimum, cause us hesitation - at the most, cause us fear.

Any venture, any opportunity, any challenge, and much of life is about doing, and getting beyond, your firsts.

We celebrate firsts. We reminisce of firsts.

"When was the last time you did something for the first time". ~ John C. Maxwell

"What makes the Biggest Difference in ones chance of success - Doing It"  ~rel

Bob Leonard
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512-593-8830 (in Austin)

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The Perfect Storm (Economically Speaking) a Year Later. The Worst (Best) is Yet To Come.

To understand this article you will need to read my article from a year ago with a similar name.  The Perfect Storm (Economically Speaking).  What's different, what's new, what have we learned and how far have we come and where are we going?

Capital, even though it is hemorrhaging slowly, is still pent-up. It needs to flow faster to the capital demand and will as it realizes it is missing opportunities (which it is).  What do the markets think?  Go to almost any trade show this year - They are bigger and the crowds are huge, much larger than just last year.  This is definitely a leading indicator of the state of our economy (Peter Lynch style).

Businesses are spending and hiring; the pace on both is going to increase.  Last year I felt like we were in a sling shot still pulling back (potential energy) - it's definitely moving forward now (kinetic energy).

As I have said before, a government that is indecisive, causes money to sit still - no one invests when the rules-of-the-game have not been defined.  Today, even though the rules still need some tuning, the capital and venture markets can no longer hold back - we are moving to flowing dollars.  What is even more amazing (IMHO), business activity is driving our government policies to make decisions (immigration reform).

So what else is coming?  High interest rates, high inflation, low unemployment, cheap non-exportable energy (venture $$$ abuzz), re-urbanization and localization.

Fun times ahead, I wish I were a young entrepreneur again; I envy my children and my grand children as there is a bright future for the young entrepreneur.

Oh, and I took the summer off from writing :) .

Bob