Entrepreneurship

Greetings all,

We knew we wanted the focus of the October newsletter to be on entrepreneurship, but to be honest, we didn’t really know what direction to go with it. It’s something we discuss with a number of clients individually, but it isn’t something we’ve covered broadly with all of the families we serve. As is often the case when we are feeling a little stuck, it was Google to the rescue. A couple of searches in Google Trends showed that some of the most connected terms to entrepreneurship were centered around ‘challenges’, ‘classes’, and surprisingly (happily so) ‘teenagers’. As entrepreneurs ourselves through several businesses in our lives, this is a topic near and dear to us that we probably should have gotten into much sooner. So, if you’ve ever considered striking out on your own, let’s go!  

READ – 
Considering this newsletter aims to be educational in its nature, it makes sense that the first links cover the question of, ‘Can you teach entrepreneurship?’. The resounding answer from Entrepreneur Magazine and others is, ‘Yes!’. This article also outlines a framework for starting to think about your own entrepreneurial inclinations. Better yet, education doesn’t have to cost a fortune or happen in an MBA course. Estonia happens to be one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world and they are growing the sector through a combination of government initiatives aimed mostly at younger people and networking. With sites like Teaching Entrepreneurship and increases in classes at college campuses around the country, there are more opportunities than ever to learn about trying your hand at something new (something the pandemic has made much more attractive for a large number of people). There are those that argue the best education in entrepreneurship happens with feet on the ground, but we advise caution before you decide to jump all in on something without first doing your homework.

LISTEN – 
If you do a search for podcasts based around entrepreneurship, you’ll find more than you know what to do with. Sometimes sifting through all the noise is as easy as going with the biggest name in the bunch. One of our favorite picks comes again from Entrepreneur.com. The name of the podcast is Problem Solvers, and forgive the redundancy, but it’s a well-produced and interesting podcast that focuses on real-life examples of people working through problems in their businesses. If you need a hit of inspiration, this is for you. With a history of only a couple of months, The Business Chop, is a new podcast that focuses on “everything from marketing, management, employees, outsourcing, technology, pricing and more”. The episodes we’ve listened to have been interesting and we are excited to see how it grows. This one may be best listened to with headphones. 

WATCH – 
When you’re ready to kick back and head down a YouTube rabbit hole, we’ve got a couple of links for you. The first one is a collection of 50 entrepreneurs giving advice. Some of the biggest names in business are artfully woven together into a collection of nearly 20 minutes of fantastic advice for entrepreneurs. The advice here works no matter what the size of the business or ambition and is well worth a watch. Our second video is a TED Talk from Bill Roche who has worked in classrooms for over 10 years in his PowerPlay Young Entrepreneurs program developing an entrepreneurial mindset in young people. Age is only a number and getting your mindset right before starting on any new venture is one of the most important things you can do. The more time you spend sharpening the ax, the faster the tree comes down. 

We would be remiss if we didn’t add here that we’ve started a podcast in this vein! Check out The FI Entrepreneur: Financial Planning for the Risk Taker wherever you listen. We’re dropping our trailer and episode 1 on Tuesday, October 5!

That’s it for October! We hope there are some valuable links here for you. Putting these together was a lot of fun. Please respond with a comment and let us know what you think! Feel free to share with friends and family and be well until next time. 

Sincerely yours,
The Bona Fide Family