Now or Never

Life can be so interesting sometimes. With everything that has transpired in the past several months, I'm getting ready to do something I never thought I'd do at this stage in my life.

I'm going back to school.

When I was younger, my parents owned a little fast-food joint in the small town where we grew up. That entrepreneurial bug bit me back then (even though I never wanted to work in the food industry again) and has always been there in the back of my mind since - nagging away like a bitter old woman.

So I'm going back to school to garner some additional skills and open my own business.

With my many years in the banking and finance industry, I've gained a wealth of knowledge and skills that will translate to any industry - leadership, management, financing, tangible equity, spreadsheets, P&L's, and (my favorite) employee development. Many people go into business very knowledgeable in their field but without these basic elements of finance and management to help them succeed. This is a death knell for any small business owner.

So many new business owners only look at the income without focusing needed attention on the bottom line. They pull the equity out of their business for their personal needs without leaving that necessary element in the business to build it for the future. They think once they start their business that they'll become wealthy and can relax and live a life of leisure while the peons take care of running the business. Wrong-o!

Being a small business owner means you are the first one in and the last to leave - plus you take it home and work on it every single night. You're constantly researching to stay ahead of the curve and keep up with the latest industry trends. People have short attention spans and you must keep finding inventive ways to make them come back for more. Ownership is not an 8-5, 40 hours a week event. It is a marriage, 24-7.

I remember how my mom would open the restaurant and my dad would close it (after he got in from his teaching job). My mom was a teacher at one time too but they quickly learned that they had to have someone onsite at all times, so Mom gave up her position to focus on the business. Even after closing, they'd count up the money and do the books during the late-night newscast. Anytime we tried taking a vacation, ultimately we'd end up cutting it short and rushing home because of some emergency or mechanical failure.

One time we were in Florida for a long-term family vacation, the first we'd taken in many years so far from home. My dad ended up having to fly back home to take care of a massive mechanical failure and then fly back to Florida for the drive home. The potential income lost was greater than the expense of a last minute ticket.

So here I find myself, on the threshold of headaches, heartburn, and pocketbook failure potential. But if I don't do this now I may never have said opportunity again. Reward never comes without a measure of risk.

Mom's taught me that.

Risk

I'm taking a break to start my blog entry. We're watching a movie about the life and rise of fashion designer, Coco Chanel.

Did you know her name was Gabrielle? She obtained her nickname "Coco" from a little French song. Of course this being a movie, it is hard to know where artistic license has been taken and reality collide. However, that part had a rather authentic ring to it. Maybe I'll research it later. I love researching subjects that entice and intrigue me.

One thing they are focusing on at present is the aspect of the free-spiritedness she possessed - of being unwilling to be a mere ornament fashioned of the same fabric as the rest of society. There is a line in her latter years that resonates in my soul - strength is not built by ones successes but by ones failures. How true that is.

She leaves comfort to pursue her dreams. She is unwilling to decline risk even after she is highly successful. In fact, one of her statements is "risk is what life is all about". Even in her 70's she continued to risk obsolesence because she still retained a vision.

I wish I could be more like that. At one time in my life I was a similar free-spirit - uncontained and untamed. Now I seem to do what is expected because I have responsibilities. Don't get me wrong, recognizing and living up to ones responsibilities is very important - something our society would do better to remember more often. But there is a part of me that desires to take a risk to do something more.

And in time I just may do so.