An Entrepreneurs Words Podcast

Damon has a problem. His staffing company is four years old and growing like crazy. Bottom line profits have doubled year-over-year since he launched the firm and several members of his team have been with him from the very beginning. Sounds like a dream story so far, right?

While vacationing, my wife and I had occasion to dine at several restaurants that we have enjoyed over the years. Something happened at two of them that was somewhat of a surprise.

Gil Penchina is a 20-year angel investor in start-up companies. He was one of the earliest members of the eBay team and has invested in unicorn companies such as LinkedIn, Dollar Shave Club, PayPal and Cruise Automotive. I heard him tell a fascinating story about what he sometimes does when he's traveling.

We've all seen the World War II movies where U.S. soldiers crept behind enemy lines and blew up bridges, tunnels and other elements of infrastructure. We hold our breath as our boys used cunning and guile to defeat the Germans at every turn. This was classic sabotage at its finest.

We all know that life is full of risks. Some are more serious than others. I hold the view that I'd rather "manage" risk than "take" risk. I've said before that taking a risk seems a bit arbitrary.

Have you ever watched the TV series Gold Rush: Alaska? It's a lot of fun to see different miners interact with each other; spend a lot of money, and fight amazing odds to discover GOLD!

Consider the following conversation that an entrepreneur named George is having with himself. "I really would like to accept the invitation to speak to the Downtown Civic Club. But I'm afraid I'll be too nervous."

Have you ever felt like your back was against the wall? And I'm not talking about a looming deadline to renew a driver's license. No, I'm referring to a true-life Indiana Jones sort of experience.

I've had a number of conversations lately with bright energetic entrepreneurs. In each instance, they had a burning desire to build their business. And in all cases, they were filled with ideas, but implementation was a challenge - after all, the day-to-day aspects of running their businesses needed constant attention.

There are very few things in life that I truly hate. We optimistic entrepreneurs are upbeat and resilient. But there is this one thing. Let me set the scene and see if you share the same disdain as do I.