Lesson #1: I am an entrepreneur

Filed in archive Entrepreneurship on December 19, 2006

Link: What did you learn this year?

O.K. It's time to come out of the closet, so to speak. In previous posts, I've described myself as a journalist. It's true. I've done that for about 15 years now.

At other times as a musician, blogger, aspiring film maker, broadcaster, actor, father and husband.

All those things are certainly a part of me.

But when I think about how I went about pursuing music in the mid-90's, creating my own little indie label and marketing my product to gift shops throughout the Poconos of Pennsylvania.

--How, while others were content to hop from one newspaper to another climbing through the ranks as best they could, a friend and I tried to start our own chain of community newspapers for an under-served, niche market,

--How, when a small volunteer fire company was seeking a way to celebrate its 50th anniversary, I jumped in and offered to create a documentary video interviewing their oldest and founding members and selling every copy of the commemorative tape as a fund-raiser,

I know that, in fact, I am an entrepreneur at heart, seeing a need and filling it, being a "master agent" of change and taking the risks and roads that no one else will take.

It is a path that I will follow even more in the coming year and in the years ahead.