Contents
The Issue— The Assumptions, Myths, and Realities of Entrepreneurship
2. Why Is There No Screening Process for Entrepreneurship?
3. Entrepreneurship Is Not One Size Fits All
Assessing Your Fit with Entrepreneurship
4. What the Heck Does an Entrepreneur Actually Do?
5. Why the HBIC and the BMOC Have Very Little Control
7. Business Ideas—Worth Almost as Much as the Paper They Are Written On
8. There is a Reason That You Enjoy Your Hobby (Hint: It’s Not Work)
9. You Will Still Have to Work with People
10. Your Personal Responsibilities: a.k.a. You Can’t Make Two Things Your Number One Priority
11. Wanting to Run before You Walk
12. When the Heck Are You Going to Have Time to start a Business?
13. Often It Is Who You Know versus What You Know
14. Money Sicknesses Make for an Unhealthy Business
15. Business Is a Roller Coaster, Not a Merry-Go-Round
17. Businesses Don’t Happen Overnight
18. Do You Have the Core Competencies to Be a Santa or an Elf?
Assessing the Business’s Fit for You
20. It Takes Money to Make Money
21. The Most Competitive Time Ever
22. Too Smart for Your Own Good
23. Buying a Business Is Acquiring Someone Else’s Problems
Assessing the Risks, Issues, and Rewards of Entrepreneurship
25. The Business Version of Let’s Make a Deal: Is There Enough Upside to Justify All of the Risks?
26. People, Spaces, and Things . . . What You Give Up When You Leave Your Job
27. Employees—Damned If You Do (or Don’t) Hire Them
28. Sometimes “Cash Flow” Doesn’t Flow
29. The “You Show”—Even If You Have Tons of Friends, You Are in This Alone
Assembling Your Entrepreneur Equation, and a Few Reminders in Case You Get Sucked in By the Hype
30. Finalizing and Evaluating Your Entrepreneur Equation
31. A Momentary Lapse of Reason
Given the desire of certain parties and to preserve confidentiality, throughout the book, as noted, some names have been changed. Other identifying details and situations have also been modified to preserve the privacy of certain individuals and businesses referenced herein.