The Six ?F? Words Every Entrepreneur Should Know - Answering Service Resources

Home
>
Entrepreneur
>
The Six ?F? Words Every Entrepreneur Should Know

The Six ?F? Words Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Start your own business, and soon enough, you find yourself in a situation where there are many things you want to say, all of them unprintable.

It happens to every entrepreneur ? a moment of extreme challenge that causes you to wonder why you started the (expletive) business in the first place. I've had my share of those moments since starting our public relations firm in March 2002.

But while trading notes with a fellow entrepreneur recently, I started to think about all the moments of extreme challenge I left behind when I decided I no longer wanted to be somebody else's employee.

That got me thinking about what really matters to me as an entrepreneur. As I shared my thoughts with my friend, a new list developed ? the "F" words I believe every entrepreneur should know. They've done the job for me so far, keeping me rooted, married and talking to my kids while we build a successful business. I hope they have the same effect for you.

1. Faith: I'm not a street corner preacher, but I have a deep and abiding faith that starting my business is what I was meant to do in life. I also have a strong faith that I've been given the tools to do the job ? even in a moment of extreme challenge. Without faith in yourself, in your business and in your purpose, how can you succeed as an entrepreneur?

2. Family: My wife and daughters are the most important people in my life. Starting my business has enabled me to put them at the center of my life, where they belong. Oh yes, I work long and hard, but today, it's with a clear purpose. The generations of entrepreneurs who built this country understood this principle. Their businesses often bore the family name, and generations of people who were born, lived and died together managed to build great businesses together.

3. Friends: Fortune 500 companies have boards of directors. Entrepreneurs have friends. When no one else will listen, friends will. When others fail to see the beauty of the product or solution, friends will. And when no one else will talk straight to you about a dumb business move, friends will. And they won't send you a bill.

4. Focus: It's nice to say you're an entrepreneur, that you are your own boss. But do you have the commitment to turn that idea into true success? The ultimate measure is your ability not only to set a goal, but stick with it, despite those moments of extreme challenge. You may have to change course along the way, but like a good sailor, you focus, keeping your business pointed to the right shore.

5. Finances: Let's face it ? most of us strike out as entrepreneurs because we believe we can improve our financial situation. I know I have not missed the constraining limits and miniscule salary increases of corporate America. How much do I want to make this year? There is only one answer: How hard am I willing to work? And there is only one reason to ask that question: to make good on my commitment to all the "F" words that rank ahead of money on my list.

6. Freedom: This may be the greatest gift of entrepreneurship. But it is the one that comes only after you can act on all the other "F" words in your entrepreneurial vocabulary. So many entrepreneurs strike out to find success, which they define as freedom from all the things they hated about working for someone else. Unfortunately for these folks, they lack a true entrepreneurial vision ? they're merely running away from something. True entrepreneurial freedom comes from a vision that encompasses what's really important to you.

Are these the only "F" words an entrepreneur needs to know? Obviously not. But in moments of extreme challenge, remembering these "F" words may help you weather a moment of extreme challenge without resorting to the unprintable variety. And if you're like me, they may also help you remember why you started the business in the first place.

Paul Furiga is president of WordWrite Communications LLC, a Pittsburgh-based virtual agency. He is the former editor of the Pittsburgh Business Times, and has also covered Congress, the White House, edited magazines and written for publications ranging from Congressional Quarterly to Frequent Flyer magazine.

In The News:

HYSTA Celebrates an Outstanding 2008 Annual Conference, Incredible ...
MarketWatch - Oct 10, 2008
I am proud to say HYSTA continues to serve the international business community in our mission to promote entrepreneurialism and career development among ...

A salute to our newspaper carriers
Telegraph-Journal, Canada - Oct 11, 2008
The image of the young, bright-eyed newspaper carrier is iconic - an emblem of eager entrepreneurialism as recognizable today as it was a century ago. ...
Graham: Delivering newspapers is a great way to build a career Kings County Record
Carried away Times and Transcript
all 4 news articles

AgentShield.com selected as Finalist for ITFlorida's Innovation ...
PR Web (press release), WA - Oct 4, 2008
Agent Shield, Inc. has been recognized as one of only four finalist statewide for the "Innovation and Entrepreneurialism Award" in the annual ITFlorida ...

Peers cheer WSU entrepreneurship center
Kansas.com, KS - Oct 10, 2008
The center offers student education, trains entrepreneurs already in the community and does research on entrepreneurialism. The center has three full-time ...

A study on entrepreneurialism shows the field is not just for men.
UM Maneater, MO - Oct 2, 2008
"Entrepreneurialism is definitely viewed as having masculine characteristics such as aggressiveness, especially with today's economy," freshman business ...

bbg allies with arab business angels network
Al-Bawaba, Jordan - Sep 27, 2008
â€œThrough our alliance with ABAN, we continue to support the growth of entrepreneurialism, innovation and local knowledge creation. ...

Gerber and Mone reiterate the secrets to success
CityWire.co.uk, UK - Oct 9, 2008
By Colin McClelland | 09:30:00 | 09 October 2008 Author Michael Gerber said he had an epiphany 35 years ago that entrepreneurialism was a myth and the ...

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice ...
Times Online, UK - 13 hours ago
... of a profoundly awkward young man whose precocious entrepreneurialism in a variety of money-making schemes had made him a taxpayer by the age of 14. ...

Maverick, not Marx
Daily Press, VA - Oct 5, 2008
... of dollars from successful business owners to redistribute wealth will reshape our society from one of entrepreneurialism to revolutionary socialism. ...

Where to offshore (and why not here?)
Computing, UK - Oct 7, 2008
Perhaps the global downturn may actually encourage more regional talent and entrepreneurialism in countries like the UK, where the conventional wisdom has ...

entrepreneurialism - Google News

Answering Service ResourceAnswering Service Resource