I Took The Other Road

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost

We've all seen, read, and heard this quote many times. But, just like a piece of music that you listen to over and over or a book you re-read every year or so, it can speak differently to you each time and evoke a flood of thoughts, memories. Today when I read it, it seems the perfect description of an entrepreneur.

Recently, when interviewing David Stein of Automatic Mail for The National Networker, he offered his description of an entrepreneur, "...what many call entrepreneurs are business owners responsible for their own destiny, but they are not trailblazers and that’s what I think defines an entrepreneur."

Not that it doesn't take courage to buy a franchise or a small business and build it up through blood, sweat, tears, and years, but that isn't the same as creating something new. Think McDonald's franchises vs. Ray Kron's creation of that model.

In a conversation yesterday, we talked about what we wanted to do, build, create. The other person said he wanted to create something that has a big "wow" factor, e.g. Google Maps. As I've said so many times before, I seek to solve problems by taking what already exists and combining these in a new way to make something that is greater than the sum of the parts and offers ease, efficiency, and economy for our users.

Does that fit the entrepreneurial model? What do you think makes an entrepreneur? Send me an email, please!