Preface
When John Wiley & Sons, Inc., approached us to write a book based on our entrepreneurial experience, we thought long and hard about it. Many people would have jumped at the chance without a second thought, and we were no doubt flattered by the invitation. We hesitated, though, because when we undertake a new business project—whatever it is—we approach it with the objective to make a significant impact. The idea of publishing “just another book” on entrepreneurship to add to the thousands already in print didn't really appeal to us—and it was certainly not what our publisher had in mind, either.
We have been immersed in entrepreneurship since our early teens. We've bought companies, sold companies, bootstrapped, and transformed businesses that some people thought could never be saved. Today, we have one of the leading entrepreneurial Web sites in YoungEntrepreneur.com. Combined with our other Web and print properties, we have established a following made up of tens of thousands of entrepreneurs from around the world. We have an interesting story, and we know that our experience has given us a wealth of knowledge to share. However, writing an autobiographical story just isn't our style; we feel that it would be too self-centered. We therefore decided that we could only agree to write a book if we knew for sure that we had something important to share, and a unique way to present it, so that we could truly make a difference in our readers' businesses.
With that rather tall ...
