Serial Entrepreneur - Part 1

Like some 12 step program, I first must admit, "I'm an addict.” I do not know if it is the adrenaline rush of risking everything or the satisfaction of achieving against significant odds, but I must admit an addiction and then understand its roots. Nothing in my life (I thought) prepared me for the last 18 years. Raised in a gypsy blue-collar family, my father did have a go at his own business for 3 years, but decided he and my mother needed more certainty when it came to paychecks. He had a low threshold for BS and that made for numerous job changes and family moves - but he was not an entrepreneur.

My upbringing was haphazard in terms of where we lived and the schools attended, however my future was certain: college and a job in engineering or science. It was not even discussable, it was assumed, and the only dialog was over which college. This was cemented during my high school years in Florida living through my father's experience in the space program and watching Star Trek; the outcome was ordained. I spent the next 10 years in the sciences; as a marine scientist and my fondest memories are of rolling decks in the North Atlantic with sunrise over the glaciers on Greenland. Yet it was not my true calling, it stirred my brain but not my heart.

Fast-forward 11 years; I am working for the United Nations Economic Development Programmes in West Africa. We are training entrepreneurs (or wanna be's) the skills required for success. After the first two weeks of a three-week program on building processes to improve the odds of success - came my epiphany; my heart was finally engaged. Being an entrepreneur engaged in a startup is tough enough in the developed world like the US or Europe, but in the developing world it is a miracle. These entrepreneurs exist in conditions of no infrastructure (transportation, communication, access to money, etc.) and graft (paying bribes to government officials to do their jobs and adding up to 25% to the cost of doing business). You run a business where to a large degree success is out of your control and yet they were making it work, and sometimes on a grand scale. As they talked from both head and heart, I recognized these were my brothers and sisters. We have more in common with all of the racial, religious, and cultural differences than I did with my own wonderful sisters!

That moment I knew I was called. Entrepreneurship is like the priesthood, social work, teaching - if it is not in your heart - it cannot be explained. 18 years, 6 startups, a life of incredible highs and unfathomable lows - I love it all.