CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR: WHAT IT TAKES
I've never been an entrepreneur. It was enough for me to have worked two full-time jobs my entire working life: running a money management practice, always under the umbrella of large investment banking firms, and having a creative life, writing books, and for magazines and newspapers, for almost 50 years. But I've bet my money on entrepreneurs, trying to learn something in the process, and perhaps add to my own net worth based on those bets. I do not believe in investing money based on friendship. But I do believe in betting on smart people first. If they happen to be friends, fine—but it's their brainpower I'm staking my money on, not the golf course relationships or the trip together to Burgundy. I like to bet on proven winners.
That guarantees nothing, by the way.
Webster's Third New International Dictionary's definition of entrepreneur says, “One who organizes, owns, manages, and assumes the risk of a business.” It also mentions “The Yankee entrepreneur who descended on the desolated south to make his fortune.” I like both of those definitions.
What separates entrepreneurs from most people is that they're not afraid to borrow money, they're definitely interested in other people's money (OPM), and they're not afraid of going broke, not even afraid of going broke multiple times. Because they all share the common feeling that the next one is going to be the big one. Their passion is convincing and real. They believe that ...
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