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On
the Fourth of July, we
celebrate the
anniversary of the
adoption of the
Declaration of
Independence. The
ideals and
the spirit of the
Founding Fathers are
very much alive in the
21st Century -- in the
lives, and the
struggles, of the small
businessperson. In
fact, many
entrepreneurial dreams
begin with the
declaration of
independence from the
tyranny of
working for someone
else, cutting loose from
the unfairness and
inequity of the rigid
corporate structure.
The truths the
entrepreneur holds
self-evident include
Life Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness,
and happiness involves
much more than
accumulating wealth.
It most often means
something much deeper --
an act of creation,
seeing an idea for
a new product take
shape, seeing your name
on a brand. For
most small business
people, there is no
great financial reward
at
the end - the happiness
is in the pursuit
itself.
The framers of the
Constitution had the
daunting task of
creating a new set of
rules by which people
agreed to govern
themselves. These
new rules would include
much more respect for
individual liberty.
The entrepreneur has to
do much the
same thing when starting
a business. There
are no "Procedure
Manuals," no
long-winded
"Personnel
Guidebooks."
The small
businessperson is guided
solely by his own wisdom
and experience, and more
often than not, a
sincere desire to treat
his employees better
than he was treated when
he worked for
"someone
else."
When the Constitution
was adopted, leaders
like Washington and
Jefferson knew that the
job of building a nation
had just
begun -- much of what
would become the United
States was still a
wilderness. When
you are a tiny, start-up
company in an
enormous economy, often
facing larger
competitors, you travel
through a perpetual
wilderness.
But somewhere, in the
wilderness lays
opportunity. Brian Hill
is co-author with Dee
Power of
"Attracting Capital
From Angels," 2002,
and "Inside Secrets
To Venture
Capital," 2001,
both books published by
John Wiley & Sons.
Hill can be
reached through the web
site http://www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com
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