Leadership

Head Start

The entrepreneurial lifestyle resists definition.

Business owners paint with strokes of curiosity, determination, and innovation. When people build with creative ambition, experience is valuable, but the symphony of desire and attitude plays an equally important role. It takes heart to start and resilience to execute early moves, manage focus, build teams, maintain sales, and provide lasting customer service to maintain momentum.

The best part about an entrepreneurial lifestyle is that it’s accessible to everyone. This can be seen as students explore projects that transcend the classroom. It’s intrapreneurs fueling positive change in existing companies. It’s startup founders achieving product-market fit with new ideas and others who acquire an established business.

EXTRA SHOT

This contribution was written by Sheldon Ohringer. Along with helping us buy a business, Sheldon is an investor and board member who led large sales teams, developed acquisition programs, and as CEO took a technology company public.

Starting a brand new business is one way to explore the entrepreneurial lifestyle, but buying an existing business is also an interesting way to write your own story.

While there may be a higher cost for the head start, acquiring an existing business presents an interesting side door to the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

Organic growth is important, but there are added benefits in augmenting internal development with external acquisitions as well. As you consider a business to buy, avoid future headaches by understanding industry requirements, such as licenses, permits, zoning, and environmental requirements. As you work with existing ownership to determine a purchase price, a valuation based on capitalized earnings, excess earnings, cash flow, and tangible assets are all methods to guide fair negotiations. In the end, the right price is one that delights the seller and excites the buyer.

As details come together, partner with legal and accounting experts who focus on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to document the transaction. A letter of intent, confidentiality agreement, contracts, leasing documents, financial statements, tax returns, and sales agreements are all important documents to talk with your M&A team about. Many transactions include a vesting schedule as well, so stay in tune with these details to avoid unwanted surprises.

There are a variety of strategic ways to acquire a business, but once the transition takes place, new owners are given keys to a kingdom that hails an established team, customer base, and operating procedures. As we see in the Exit section of the Results chapter in YDNTB, there will be challenges during these transitory times, but in the end, virtuous leaders listen to keep the culture balanced.

All the good that comes with a business is important to maintain, but an audit of negative aspects is important too. This focus on areas that need improvement is stressful, and concerned employees may exaggerate issues to make their own contribution seem important. To stay proportionate, talk with everyone for context, invite resolutions that may solve issues, get hands-on, and stay optimistic to keep your assessment honest and weighted against the big picture.

Searching and finding undervalued, cash-flow businesses may take time, but it serves as a viable alternative to growing a business from scratch. Intentional candor with areas to improve allows new owners to build on past success while charting a renewed vision for lasting prosperity.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Table of Riffs

Brewed From Within: Energy for the Entrepreneurial Lifestyle compiles 125 riffs into four timeless sections. Here’s a VIP snapshot tour, with a handful of riffs linked for early access!

Imagine holding your new book. After the cosmic cover art is initially observed, we open to a title page, one blank page for personalizations from the author, and then the publisher’s copyright page. After the heartfelt dedication page and motivating preface, you’ll find the table of riffs. While the book flows from start to finish, each riff is individually numbered and includes a snapshot of Key Topics and a unique QR code that supports easy referencing and quick sharing. The Foreword from Brad Feld and the book’s Introduction prepares you for what to expect and then we dive in! The Table of Riffs below is your first look at the modern circus that’ll energize whatever you’re building. After the book becomes a new favorite, we end with the book’s closing matter. Readers can refill their mug even more in the About The Author pages, meet the 21 contributing authors, acknowledge those who brought this book to life, sneak backstage for people interested in writing a book or book marketing, play in a mini crossword puzzle, and explore more timeless resources to keep us all building… TOGETHER.

PART ONE: ENTREPRENEURSHIP

1. Uncharted
2. Early Moves
3. Maverick
4. First in Line
5. Ideaworks
6. Pain Relievers vs. Vitamins
7. Minerva
8. Prismatic
9. Fresh Powder (cc)
10. Escorting Execution
11. Slow & Fast
12. Triangulation
13. Real Skills
14. Ship It
15. Storytelling
16. Super Sentence
17. Isochronal
18. Sequencing
19. Feedback Is Data
20. Down Under (cc)
21. Slide Deck Design
22. Attention Traps
23. Captive
24. Momentum Mountain
25. Fructifying Fortitude
26. Shifting Gears
27. Echoes
28. Breakout Valuation
29. Head Start (cc)
30. Not to Lose
31. Landing
32. Voices (cc)
33. Diplomacy Disrupted (cc)

PART TWO: LEADERSHIP

34. Listen
35. Jargon vs. Understanding
36. Small Business Owners
37. ArtOfficial (cc)
38. Linchpin
39. Significance
40. Permeability
41. Everyday Activism (cc)
42. Generosity Builds Trust
43. Atmospheric
44. Winds of Outrage
45. Executionist
46. Import Knowledge
47. Líneas Invisibles (cc)
48. Interested Introductions (cc)
49. Overtime
50. Decisions
51. Aphorism
52. Airport Foot Massage
53. Enchanting Events
54. Reluctance
55. Collide
56. Playforce (cc)
57. Playforce Principles
58. Adaptability (cc)
59. Adapttitude (cc)
60. Extra Credit (cc)
61. Tenured & Tired
62. Seasonality
63. Linear
64. Diversified Career Portfolio
65. Visualizing Variety
66. Hiatus

PART THREE: TECHNOLOGY

67. Pure Wonder
68. Innovation Curves
69. Tinker
70. Wireframing
71. Hybridize
72. Time Trappers
73. Cyberspace
74. Producing a Podcast
75. Dollowers
76. Welcome to Web3
77. Mechanized Money (cc)
78. Woven Worlds (cc)
79. Phygital
80. Munch Munch
81. Septenary
82. Conversationalized
83. Yin-Yang
84. Bridges to Tomorrow
85. Digitized Consciousness
86. Replicants
87. Incentivized Reality (cc)
88. Propulsive
89. Neon Future

PART FOUR: LIFE & HAPPINESS

90. Open to Next
91. Indexing
92. Uncertainty
93. Anticipation
94. Recursion
95. Horizons
96. Anxiety
97. Creation vs. Consumption (cc)
98. Waiting Rooms (cc)
99. 1% Better
100. Training Wheels
101. Bloop
102. Winterizing
103. Santa Is Real
104. Front & Center
105. Pebbles
106. Goodnight Moon
107. Totality
108. 13.8 Billion
109. Dark Matter
110. Gimmies
111. Hole-In-One (cc)
112. Serendipitist
113. Bookmarks
114. Feng Shui
115. Sedona Sands
116. Love Letters
117. One & Only
118. Wayfinders
119. Winding Whys
120. Oversubscribed
121. Intrinsic
122. Conspicuous Kindness
123. Sharing
124. Endowment
125. Perpetuity

For more details or to consider creative ways to collaborate, download the book summary, grab a book, and connect with the author to talk through more ideas.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Overtime

Meaningful moments can form faster without an agenda.

When so much of business communication is graded by productivity, meetings, pre-planned talking points, goals, and recorded remains, there is mysterious value in extended conversations that have purpose, but no end goal.

Extended discussions create space to pass interesting anecdotes, unstructured opportunities, and unforeseen knowledge grenades. While it’s uncommon, consider how bonus time connects friends who simply haven’t met yet.

Extra Shot

Most are oversubscribed. This creates an illusion of being busy, but a peculiar conversation is rarely a waste of time.

Long-term leaders expand minds while tightening impact networks along the way. Respect the extra time required, but let’s invite these verbal volleys and when asked to go into overtime, stay thirsty and see what happens.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Adaptability

As leaders prepare others for an unpredictable future, an interest in understanding answers and an eagerness to claim confidence is essential. A vital element to both qualities is an ability to constantly adapt.

When technology makes answers easy to find, adaptability makes the human touch unmistakable and more resilient. As students traverse problem-solving activities, they learn to appreciate what goes into the answer. This leads to deeper understanding and boosts adaptability as assumptions are tested and unplanned obstacles are conquered.

Extra Shot

This contribution was written by Nancy Mwirotsi. She is a leader from Kenya who empowers underserved youth through technology education.

Imagine a young student, standing in front of a packed room to pitch her first startup idea. Something unexpected is bound to happen. When it does, real-time adaptability keeps her calm and her voice grows stronger as the crowd responds to her ability to execute despite the disturbance. Outside the classroom, similar manifestations occur when leaders reward team members who adapt to stay ahead of innovation curves and we all know how unpredictable entrepreneurship is, which makes adaptability an ongoing requirement for founders building without a map.

Adaptability strengthens confidence as we then let students lead. When young people are trusted to take the stage, make decisions, or shape solutions, they begin to own their success and claim a confidence that can’t be taught.

As students claim confidence, adults stop underestimating their capacity. This fosters a two-way exchange for students that see themselves in leaders who motivate them to explore, make mistakes, and yet, always remain valued. A shared interest in how things work can then amplify potential as technology is introduced to create awareness, multiply real skills, and actuate ideas. This experience encourages students to go beyond just using technology to find the easy answer. It elevates those who understand how technology works, which continues to shape courageous innovators that avoid the temptation to be mediocre.

Within the unknowns of constant change, adaptability keeps us curious. Enduring curiosity can then activate initiative supported by real skills and expanded through lifelong learning. Leaders who create environments that help others build proficiency in the dynamic elements of playforce principles, prepare us all for the future of work.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Everyday Activism

Power from the past keeps us moving, but effectiveness dwindles when fewer voices are heard. Fewer voices help those in power grow quickly, but history reminds us how a lack of diversity is not only dangerous, it’s boring. This invites the leader inside us all, to design action for change by empowering diverse populations.

EXTRA SHOT
This contribution was written by Andrè Wright. Andrè is a world traveler who uses design, fashion, and art to inspire students and community-driven movements.

To thread a topic for discussion, let’s stick a few bars on the global language of fashion. Our voices can be heard, but sometimes the volume makes a message miss. The art we share online is material, but can be lost in the sea of content. Efforts add up, but community requires sacrifice. Activate as much energy as possible, but clothing can also speak. What we wear tells a story. This story has many characters, each playing a role in how we feel, think, and act. What we wear hides or magnifies your mode for that moment. Fashion makes each outfit a creative act. We dress to impress, to feel the chill, to stand out, to fit in, to perform, to relax, or just to call it good enough. No matter the story of what we wear, our creative expressions can be enhanced with education and experiences that foster engagement, adaptability, and collaborative partnerships. For any genre, when stories stack alongside real progress, community-driven activism can grow a movement.

The right audience in the moment (timely) and over time (timeless) sets a direction for a movement. This form of group action may involve individuals, organizations, or both. Together, a vision is understood thanks to a compelling narrative. Planning keeps the vision clear and supports small, but consistent moves that all rhyme over time. The movements we all talk about are those that provide opportunities to build our skills in leadership, teamwork, and citizenship through creative expression.

We each have our own gifts and people we love. This makes the style of how we interact with the world all your own. You are your own sustainable accouterment for change.

Everyday activism adds up and the diversity it inspires can keep things interesting. Designed with an open mind and a positive-sum mindset, everyday activists form communities that create conditions to help us all thrive. We develop more conscious people who can then contribute positively to their families, schools, communities, and the world.

By Ben McDougal, ago