| Every now and then I take a look at my life and am | | | | production out of the home and into factories and |
| amazed that I could be living it. Each day is different | | | | office buildings. It became an important goal to get a |
| from the day before; I do what I like to do and I do | | | | job in one of those places because having a job |
| as much as I like to do, when I like to do it! | | | | there was a matter of pride and self-respect. |
| Has it always been that way? NO. I'm a product of a | | | | Businesses were moving out of the home and |
| generation that believed that working for a large and | | | | moving into the future. |
| solid company would be the ideal way to have a | | | | Sadly, over the many decades of enormous |
| secure future. But along with all the corporate | | | | corporate and technological advancement, the secure |
| climbing that I did, I kept asking "what is wrong with | | | | future, that was promised to me and countless of |
| this picture?" I was in an environment that controlled | | | | others turned out to be an illusion. Yes, many people |
| my creativity, my initiative and my finances. Finally, | | | | made lots of money, but it extracted a heavy toll in |
| after three successive corporate career reversals | | | | our personal lives. Heart attacks, stress, divorce, etc. |
| through take-overs and downsizing, I started to look | | | | were the by-products of the fast track we are led |
| at other options. I began the history of my own | | | | to believe is the only way to achieve success. The |
| family. | | | | world was changing so quickly and we suffered the |
| My parents were immigrants to America. They and | | | | negative effects of an economy that has gone |
| many, many others just like them, came to this | | | | wrong. |
| country without skills, without money, without | | | | And so, I gathered up my courage and said goodbye |
| knowing the language. What they had, though, was | | | | to office politics, to a long, daily commute to |
| the wisdom to see the abundance of opportunities in | | | | un-satisfying jobs and to a financial ceiling imposed on |
| this newly chosen home land. They were the real | | | | me by someone else. I was now in charge of my life |
| risk-takers who believed in hard work, self-reliance | | | | and I loved it. I wanted to grow and explore not only |
| and being their own boss. They had the motivation, | | | | what else was out there for me to do, but to see |
| the discipline and the perseverance to pursue their | | | | what I was made of. Back then, I didn't know much |
| dream. They believed in themselves. I spent much | | | | about taxes and deductions; had no idea about how |
| time in talking with them and through those | | | | to write business plans or marketing plans; couldn't tell |
| discussions, I confirmed what I had been feeling all | | | | you the difference between a permit and a |
| along - I have those entrepreneurial qualities as well! | | | | license...but I learned. I taught myself how to market |
| Holding on to this revelation, I looked at the business | | | | my business; I discovered the best sales techniques |
| world from an entrepreneur's point of view...starting | | | | that work for me; I studied accounting and |
| with how business has evolved since the first | | | | understood how banks work...it was endless, it was |
| settlers. I found some interesting history. | | | | exciting! It was scary! There were times where I |
| When this country first began most, if not all, | | | | asked my mother to call me to make sure that the |
| businesses were home-based - the seamstress, the | | | | phone was working - I didn't have one client calling |
| shoemaker, the butcher and baker, the candlestick | | | | me! There were also times that I looked through the |
| maker, the stable owner, the tavern keeper, etc. all | | | | paper to see what jobs were available! But I |
| worked at home. Their private quarters were | | | | persevered - primarily because the thought of failure |
| attached to the storefront, either above or in the | | | | was non-acceptable; and secondly, the thought of |
| back. Then the Industrial Revolution came along and | | | | going back to an office, with all its restrictions and |
| this modern technology moved services and | | | | limitations depressed me. |