The Freestyle Entrepreneur

Enthusiasm is the key to success in sales.  Yes, it’s good (sometimes even important) to know your products and to understand proven selling techniques.  But the catalyst, the spark, the firing pin to a successful sale is enthusiasm. Tell your story and tell it with passion and excitement.  Work hard.  Make money.  Have fun.  — [...]

I don’t think I’m the only one.  As a business owner, I find myself pretty much constantly thinking about (actually, worrying about) money, about sales, about taxes, about getting clients, about losing clients, about making sure that every project is top notch. In other words, I’m a bit paranoid.  And that’s good.  That keeps me [...]

One of the people I admire most in this world is Winston Churchill.  He was tough, abrasive, brilliant and, it seems to me, single-handedly  threw up the sea wall that stopped the advance of Hitler in World War II.   He was pure determination.  And for that reason, he was perhaps the deciding factor in [...]

It’s not about luck.  It is about work, focus, goals … and downright determination.  Just as important, success is not about never failing, getting an easy ride, or even being born with a silver spoon in your mouth.  If you never give up, you will succeed — maybe not today, maybe not next week, maybe [...]

When I was young(er), I saw business dealings as winner-take-all propositions.  I wanted the whole pie!  Then I learned that the best way to get what you want is to help others get what they want.  Rather than battling it out with competitors in a bunkhouse brawl in which everybody came out bloodied, I now [...]

The best part about being in business is that there are no guarantees.  It’s not a pony ride at an amusement park; it’s an extreme adventure without a safety net.    I still get the biggest thrill in the world when I land a new contract…and just about die from despair when I lose an [...]

I know a man in his late 30s who can barely read and has no math skills. But I admire him because, last month, he set the bar impossibly high … at least for himself.  He plans to have his GED (high school graduate equivalency diploma) within two years. Will he make it?  Beats me. [...]

I know business owners who, if they did the calcs, would find that they make somewhere between $5 and $10 an hour.  They could make the same income, maybe even with benefits, clerking at the Quickie Mart … AND get to go home at night without a care. Sadly, strangely, proudly, that’s just not us. [...]