I believe in entreprenurialism. I believe in creating and manifesting whatever you can! I believe in hard work and passion.
I’d like to believe that this is all possible to do in America, with a good measure of support.
And I soooooooooo wonder. At times I soooooooooo wonder.
Did you know that entrepreneurs make up 75% of the businesses in American. We are America.
Somewhat Recent Statistics about Self-Employment
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
According to the most recent Non-Employer Statistics published the U.S. Census Bureau, on average 2,356 people go into business for themselves every day. Their firms account for 78 percent of U.S. businesses and $951 billion in receipts.
“Among the fastest-growing industries are Web search portals (41.2 percent), Internet service providers (16.6 percent), nail salons (18 percent), electronic shopping and mail-order houses (12 percent), recreational vehicle dealers (12.1 percent) and landscaping services (11.1 percent).” The top five states in terms of growth in small businesses between 2004 and 2005 were the District of Columbia (9.6 percent), Nevada (7.7 percent), Florida (7.6 percent), Georgia (7.6 percent) and Utah (7.2 percent).
If the video below is true….I’m dumbfounded. Though I have had my own brushes with government this past year which have left me MOST underwhelmed and poised to take action. And I am.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcBaSP31Be8&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
And then, I ran across an interesting school and site called Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. Though an all male staff, (with the high stats on female entrepreneurs, that surprised me) but found a great interview with a most savvy woman named Judy Estrin who I INTEND to interview some day soon.
I like her thoughts below on entrepreneurialship and her full interview, all the more compelling:
Kaizen: Your experience and successes also led to your joining the boards of directors of FedEx, along with CEO Fred Smith, and Disney, along with CEO Bob Iger and Steve Jobs. Everyone on those boards is extremely accomplished—what complementary expertise do you bring to those boards?
Estrin: I’ve been on the board of FedEx for 20 years and Disney now for a little over ten. I like to think that I contribute in a variety of says, but three main areas are my entrepreneurial experience, my different perspective as a woman, and my understanding of technology and the Internet.
Kaizen: Looking back on your extensive entrepreneurial experience, what was the most exciting aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Estrin: I don’t know that I can pick just one. One of the most exciting aspects of entrepreneurship is identifying an unmet need and developing a new approach to address that need and then actually seeing it happen. Creating a new market and seeing people use the products and figuring out how you need to adapt it to bring that to market.
The second part is the part I miss the most — teambuilding; when you build a company, you get to create the culture bottom-up, which is very special. People used to joke that I used to talk about my companies as kids. I actually give a presentation where I compare great leadership to great parenting. Ethics and values, whether you’re raising kids or building cultures and companies, are not dictated by little notes on a card — they’re set by example. There are behaviors that you reward, what you tolerate, how you treat different things. It’s built into the fabric. There’s something to me just really wonderful about bringing teams of people together and watching them grow. Individuals that I remember starting working for us right out of school — now I see them off starting companies of their own. So the people part of it is probably the most special aspect that I think back on.
Kaizen: What has been the most challenging aspect of being an entrepreneur? Anything that caused sleepless nights?
Estrin: First of all, being an entrepreneur is really, really, really, really, really hard work. It’s all-consuming. The great entrepreneurs are consumed by passion. It takes a lot of time. It’s a really big commitment. And so you have to realize there are compromises that you give up by throwing yourself into something.
And then — not true in the early years — but one of the reasons why I’m no longer running a company is that, today, the venture-entrepreneurial ecosystem is broken. And so raising money and having to deal with venture capitalists today is an unbelievable frustrating experience. Not across the board, but for the most part. They’ve become very risk-averse. It’s become more adversarial. Now I also think entrepreneurs today are feeling too entitled. They don’t realize that there’s risk involved and how much work is required and often expect returns too quickly. So I would say the venture-entrepreneurial dynamic to me is the most frustrating part.
It’s time to take action, to intend some varied results. Embrace your power….make a positive difference. You can!
BB Webb