I took in dinner and a play the other night with a couple of good friends. During our repast, the topic of a young, local entrepreneur came up. I had met this guy while filming a television show on entrepreneurism and he struck me as the total package --- bright, articulate, handsome, and already the owner of a successful start-up here in Pittsburgh.

But when I mentioned his name, my buddy (we’ll call him “Scott”), said, “That guys is no entrepreneur … at least not by MY definition … how can you be an entrepreneur when you have a rich daddy who will bail you out any time that you screw up?”

I responded by saying, “Scooter, I know PLENTY of guys who have built companies using venture and angel capital … what’s the difference?”

“Well, that may be true”, he replied, “but this guy sure doesn’t fit my definition of an entrepreneur, which is someone who is willing to risk EVERYTHING HE HAS, with absolutely NO safety net. You know, like Cortez, when he burned his ships after reaching the new world.”

(By the way, I have always admired the Z-man for having that kind of courage. Tell me, do you think he took a vote of his men first, a la’ our modern-day political leaders?)

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(The title of this writing is my favorite line from a true classic, "Only the Strong Survive" … Jerry Butler, 1969)

In every company I’ve ever owned, it has been the salespeople who always earn the most money.

Why?

Simple. Sales folk always have the toughest job. Selling IS the toughest job in any organization.

We’ve all heard that old bromide, “nothing happens until somebody sells something”, right? Well, it’s true. Without sales, there is no need for product, customer service (presently enjoying its time at the top of the heap), R&D, Finance, or (my favorite!) management.

Unfortunately, great salespeople are almost impossible to find. For one thing, and if they are as productive as you want and need them to be, they are probably very well taken care of by their present employers.

Furthermore, the people who employ them have also learned what we all have learned, which is: When you finally land a great salesperson, do everything in your power to keep that person or persons with you!

The second reason why great salesmen are impossible to find is that these marvelous producers of revenue generally realize just how talented they are, and so they usually go off and start their own businesses. (Which, I’ll add, is very often a mistake.)

For you see, the skills and talents it requires to be a great salesperson (empathy, the ability to manipulate other minds, creativity, and so forth) are generally the exact opposite skills needed to manage a business (objectivity, “one set of rules”, logic, and an ability to see only the facts as they are, and not as you might wish them to be).

But one thing that a salesperson can never, ever be is AFRAID. And this is a very difficult thing for the great majority of all salespeople, just as it is for all people in general.

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(and that's MY word....not yours) 

I remember one time having a meeting with a bunch of people who work in what is euphemistically called the “not-for-profit” segment of our capitalistic society.

The meeting lasted maybe two hours, and at the end of it (and I’d guess there were maybe a dozen people all huddled around the table), there was a great deal of back-slapping and congratulations for a “Good Meeting” (did you ever hear of a “Bad Meeting”, BTW?).

Heck, there were those who even called it a “Great Meeting”.

So I started thinking … “What, exactly, did we get accomplished?” There were just a handful of “to-do’s”, almost none of which would, and upon their accomplishment, result in any major shifts in any major “Paradigms” (a word that was frequently bandied about in that meeting, I’ll have you know). … at least insofar as I could see!

Further, there was no Agenda for this meeting, not were there any Talking Points or Problems to be resolved. Frankly, and to me, it was just two hours from my life. Hours that I could have spent raising my kids or helping my investments grow.

It all brought to mind one of my immutable observations … most people in this free market society that we live in just want to get from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. without having to make any decisions.

You see, decisions are tough. For one thing, decision-making requires that something be decided.

And that’s work!

I remember some years ago watching the Late Show with Johnny Carson. Johnny’s guests that night included David Brenner, the acerbic comedian from Philadelphia, and George Hamiliton, he of the perpetual tan.

To shorten a long story, Hamilton was skewering Hamilton when Carson stepped in and mercifully called off the jam. Carson said to Brenner, “You have the quickest mind I have ever known. Why?” To which Brenner replied, “I grew up in the streets of southwest Philly, where you have to make more decisions-per-half-hour than anywhere else on Earth.

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Every Saturday morning, I go onto the radio to tout the virtues of owning one’s own business. “You’ll never be more free!” I proclaim, “Why work for someone you don’t even respect?”, I ask.

Some of you … many of you in fact … have taken my advice. You’ve shucked your corporate garb and gone ahead and joined the ranks of the self-employed.

Feels good, doesn’t it?

But as you grow from your basement to your first commercial office space, you begin to notice that your business becomes your new love. In essence, it becomes your passion, right up there with wife and family.

And as this happens, the lines between “it” and an arms-length method of earning a living for your family begin to become less and less discernable.

And as this “blur” (between “corporate assets” and “private assets”) becomes more and more fuzzy, so too can become your interest in even making them precise and discernable.

Examples abound. The “company car” (remember what your accountant told you; no more than twenty per cent can be for personal use and you still must document that twenty per cent) becomes simply, “the car”. You travel to a trade show event and charge not only your airfare and hotel stay to your business, but you also allocate those same expenses for your spouse and kids!

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My grandfather (the absolute wisest man I have ever known) used to say to me: a.) Get a mechanic who won’t cheat you, b.) find a plumber who will always show up, regardless of the day or time, c.) marry a woman who is easy-going, and, d.) find an accountant who cares as much about your money as you!

(To his last point --- I have since concluded that, “there is no such person”, but I think I know what grandpa meant anyway.)

The world of business is all about “protecting yourself”, really. And since the number of people with whom you can do a “handshake deal” dwindles each and every year, it is becoming more and more critical that you find people, systems, and (unfortunately) “pieces of paper” that will enable you to sleep more than three hours a night.

Think about a typical day in business. You start out in marketing, where you must copyright and/or trademark your slogans and copy.

Then, you move on to sales, where you have to be sure to have non-compete and non-solicit agreements in place for your salespeople --- thus preventing them from “walking out” with an armful of your customers.

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