About three years ago, when our co-founder Frank Fiore and I were developing the entrepreneurship curriculum for the Ken Blanchard School at Grand Canyon University, I did a course entitled ‘History of Entrepreneurship’, which posited that it was logical that America become the home of entrepreneurs, because the country was founded by entrepreners…..Columbus, for example, the Puritans, and so forth.
So, it’s not really surprising that one of our enduring legacies to the world will be entrepreneurship. We’ve become more regulated and stultified in recent years, but that’s probably an aberration in the long term flow of entrepreneurship.
People in America among the entrepreneurial class have an abiding belief in themselves, and one of our missions in this School, is to impart a little knowledge in our courses that will help aspiring entrepreneurs make better decisions.
If I had listened to friends and family before I bought my first business, I wouldn’t have done it. I would have stayed at Ford, where I had one of those enviable high potential careers going, but I would have always wondered what might have been. Instead, I researched what I was about to buy, and bought it, even though I took a 50% pay cut in the first year or so when I and a partner were turning the company around. BTW, I couldn’t have done it without a solid partner.
It doesn’t make any different whether you want to do a flower stand in Mumbai or the next big social networking thing in New York or San Francisco. Or even an escort service in Beijing. But, the important thing is not to listen to family and friends; do your research using our courses and make your decision on that basis, not what nasayers might say. Work through our free business plan templates to form your ideas.
If you get to the point where you launch and are successful with your business, or even if you aren’t, there will be a certain independence of your spirit, regardless of where you are.
Even one of our new associates, in the next iteration of the School, recently emigrated from the UK to Canada because he was tired of people telling him he couldn’t do this or that. Canada should be happy to have him. The US would have had him, if not for our nutball immigration laws. They’ll get fixed in time….democracy isn’t pretty at times.
So, our independence is not only as a country, but the legacy we’re leaving to the world about independence of spirit in entrepreneurship.
Happy Independence Day, World.