True grit
One of my favorite people in the world is a woman I know who runs an entertainment magazine in the Milwaukee area. We’ve been friends for years, and she easily ranks in the Top 5 on my “People I Admire Most” list. She not only started and grew a successful publication, but she’s done so with intelligence, humor, compassion, creativity and good old-fashioned grit.
She always seems be running on all eight cylinders, and she is a consummate multitasker. On the rare occasion our schedules mesh and allow for an afternoon visit, I’m usually tagging along while she’s running errands and, between stops, she’ll fill me in on the adventures of business ownership, motherhood and the escapades of her wonderfully quirky extended family.
Last time we spoke, I told her I was joining the ranks of small-business ownership, and that I could use a few words of wisdom from the front lines.
After she made a wisecrack about being happy to oblige simply so she’d have something to add to the “What? Are you NUTS?” chapter on running a business in her memoirs, she pulled through.
“Here’s some advice, and I’ll even give it to you for free,” she quipped. “No matter how much money you think you need, you need three times that much.” She explained that you can run the numbers six ways from Sunday, but it’s simply the way it is. “I can’t explain it, but there you have it.”
But, she wasn’t quite done. “And one more thing, don’t let not having enough money stop you.”
Spoken like a true entrepreneur.
So, to all you dreamers out there with a vision of turning your skills and your passions into your day job, I say this: Count your pennies, go forth, and Godspeed. See how far true grit will take you.
