Posts Tagged ‘entrepreneurs’

Entrepreneurs: Beware of Boredom

Wednesday, August 29th, 2012 by Troy Schrock

It is not uncommon for entrepreneurs to get bored when their organizations mature to a certain size.  Management becomes procedural, the business is humming, and life becomes all too routine and mundane.  Entrepreneurs can find this environment stifling.

Unfortunately, the reflexive urge is to engage in behaviors that may be destructive to the very existence of the organizations they started.  They pursue growth, jump into other executives’ domains, launch new ventures, or invest in other businesses – anything to break up the new monotony.  These moves aren’t always bad, but only if approached strategically.  They should not be done merely as desperate reaches for something different.

In starting his second restaurant, Union Square Hospitality Group founder Danny Meyer said, “[The first restaurant] was a great canvas, but I needed a new place to express my creativity.  I didn’t think I should alter a successful restaurant because I was restless.  I didn’t have to get all of my ideas into one place.” (as quoted in Small Giants by Bo Burlingham)

Restless entrepreneurs can learn from Meyer’s recognition.  Proper channeling of creative energy can lead to good results for the initial enterprise as well as any new ventures that may arise.

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Nothing New

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 by Troy Schrock

During the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s, my grandpa and his brother built and exited a number of different business ventures.  They began by helping their dad with his cattle business and launched into a full-scale dairy operation.  (I have a photo circa 1930s of a delivery van with “Schrock Dairy” and “Natural Milk & Cream” written in fancy lettering across the sides and back.)  From there, they launched a full-scale apple orchard business.  Then, with the full-gut commitment unique to entrepreneurs, they tore down all of their orchards and started a hybrid seed corn growing business.  They later added a fertilizer (anhydrous ammonia) business with multiple plants and distribution facilities across Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.  This business was eventually sold to Standard Oil of Indiana.  (I guess anhydrous ammonia was the rage those days.)

Today, we are more than a half-century removed from these entrepreneurs, so naturally, we have different business concerns than they did, right?  My dad was recently reading through their correspondence and found two consistent themes:

  1. Get the right people in the right positions.
  2. Cash flow!   Cash, Cash, Cash.  It was never far from their minds.

OK, so maybe business really isn’t much different today!  The key issues facing entrepreneurs 75 years ago are the same for entrepreneurs today, and they will still be the same 75 years from now.

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