Episode 4 of 37 Signals’ podcast is Jason Fried’s speech at BIG Omaha 2009.  As usual, he creates some friction with his viewpoints that often oppose the “trend & hype” of current venture buzz.  I like it!  I like the balance and alternative thinking that helps ground the entrepreneur.  Listen to it here.  and here is the quick and dirty summary from their site:

In this talk, Jason discusses what he’s learned at 37signals over the years. Topics covered: The idea that you should “fail early, fail often” is bogus. Plans are guesses. Interruption is the enemy of productivity. Sell your byproduct. Emulate chefs. Focus on what won’t change. If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now.

Listen to it, I highly recommend it.  If you feel the need, let me know what you think of the key ideas, namely:

- “Fail early, fail often” debunked.

- Planning is a joke, just live in the moment!

- Don’t talk to each other, its an interruption.  Use tools instead.

- Sell byproducts.

etc…

In an economy such as this, I may be beating a dead horse in discussing job security but for those who hang on to certain notions of this myth, my goal is to rewire thinking.  The millenial generation (we’ll call them genYers) is developing far different thought processes than their baby boomer parents and older generations.  During the first half of the 20th century, the key to the good life was putting in 30+ years at a company and retiring with the gold watch and a pension.  As Donna Fenn puts it in her book “Upstarts”, entrepreneurship was compared to hocking watches on a street corner, essentially, looked down upon.  One of the biggest arguments put forth is regarding job security.  Ideas such as “better safe than sorry” permeate the discussions.  A big strong company will take care of you and the whims of the market can’t take down the big boys like they can a small business.  Being self employed is dangerous and risky.  As the market has marched on, the truth has been quite different.  Not that the small businesses are surviving any more than others but simply that the big boys can and do fail, leaving many unemployed.  Even if complete failure isn’t the issue, cutbacks and downsizing lead equally to lost jobs.  What I find very interesting is the fact that job security is basically lost when it is needed most.  You might work for a large company for years with all this great security.  Suddenly, the economy takes a turn for the worst and the word at the water cooler is big downsizing and your position is on the chopping block!  The fact is, when you actually had job security is when everyone is doing well, including the small “risky” business.

Entrepreneurs have True Job Security

Job security ultimately is found

Risk is an interesting beast. Generally speaking, the goal of each entrepreneur and investor is to mitigate risk to as near zero as possible. The less risk that exists the better, or at least, the less risk you personally must take on, the better. This is a fine policy that any savvy businessperson demonstrates. Interestingly, risk plays an important role when viewed from the macroeconomic perspective. On the micro level, we are all trying to eliminate it, but from the greater macro level, it is an important regulator and guide to innovation and progress. To artificially eliminate risk poses some interesting side effects that ultimately are undesired. Forms of artificial risk elimination would include government policy and intervention, public incentives and credits, promises of government support and bailout, etc. These forms of risk mitigation are immediately accepted by most who are offered but is it really for the best?

Entrepreneur Magazine’s November issue featured an article regarding a new-ish concept that Starbucks has embarked upon.  Many companies carry a common goal, a desire for international brand recognition and dominance.  Well, in some industries, that may not be the way to go.  Starbucks, one of those international branding phenomena, is actually “hiding” their brand within a few new locations.  What?! Yes, they are practically invisible as the the backer of a few new shops being opened.  With a billion dollar namesake, why would you forsake it? Well, coffee happens to be an area where indie is in.  Local, hip, one-of-kind, shoot-from-the-hip, is desirable.  People like their coffee shop, not some international cookie-cutter.  The new “15th Ave Coffee & Tea” is just that, local, hip, and still Starbucks (although you may not realize it).  The new coffee house features many ideas and innovations typically found only in local establishments with a coffee connoisseur founder.  That is in-part because of the liberty given to the new shop to run as such.  Protocols are a little more liberal but carry the support and resources of a powerhouse company in Starbucks.  Also, Starbucks is not the only one embarking on this trend.  As the article points out, Great Harvest Bread Co. has done this since the beginning. Similar ideas are coming out of Marriott Hotels and others.

A common conundrum that entrepreneurs find themselves in is that of work-life balance.  Even more so is a life-timing balance.  Often we are financially unstable, working 80 hour weeks, failing and starting up again, and we continue to put off life saying that once we achieve “x”, then we will be ready.  The common ones are marriage, children, vacations and travel, family time, personal time (not work related), etc.  I find myself with this dilemma on a regular basis, and here I am preparing for my first kid, a baby boy due in February!  I’m excited and have simply had to put those worries aside and know that I’ll figure it out.  There’s always a way and it’s never as bad as you initially think. Sometimes you just need to make it happen!

Live life in spite of circumstance

Sometimes life must be lived regardless of what circumstance permits.  Vacations and family time can only be passed on for so long before it grows too late.  Entrepreneurship is consuming and, for those who haven’t realized it yet, LIFELONG! 

Sustainability is a common term, often referring to some energy-efficient lifestyle choice or other “green” concept.  The goal being to create lifestyles, energies, and other things that are, yes, sustainable over the long term.  Using renewable resources that won’t wound the world more than it helps.  Sustainability is really the ability of any concept to continue onward running on its own production and energy.  In physics, the ultimate in sustainability would be a “perpetual motion machine“.  Although these don’t exist and even violate laws of thermodynamics, they would be the ultimate example of sustainable ideas.  They utilize energy they create to fuel themselves with 100% efficiency.
In the movement to affect world change, to progress society forward, to enhance the lives of those around us, from the poorest poor to the richest rich, sustainability can be a very valuable trait to any good strategy.  If it is temporary, like a loaf of bread to a starving person, it is good, but if it gives someone a lifetime of bread through seeding and farming, it is great and sustainable.

The greatest sustainable concept: Entrepreneurship

One of the reasons I am passionate about entrepreneurship is its uncanny ability to strive for sustainability.