A Band of Brothers
Add your rating! (See bottom of page.)Sometimes a struggling entrepreneur needs to look outward for a source of regeneration. Where does she turn for the spark to keep at it for another day?
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
- William Shakespeare, Henry V
For the entrepreneur in startup and survival mode, there are sometimes few sources of fuel when the spiritual tank is running low.
When I look across the landscape of my history, there are those who symbolize my place of respite, and my refueling station. They are the ones with willing ears when I am compelled to share a war story about a horrible client, an uncooperative software program, or the ups and downs of cash flow. They are the people to whom I send words of encouragement when they face their own difficulties. But most gratifying of all, they are the brothers and sisters I salute when a moment of victory has been reached. They are my fellow entrepreneurs.
I have watched some of them go from savvy twenty-somethings with a great idea to moguls in the making, cheering them on with each new win. I have discovered others who are at the very beginning of their road, and offered the kind of support and nuggets of wisdom that can only come from someone who has stood on the X where their feet are now firmly planted.
But I have received so much more than I have given -- at least as far as I can see it.
There is an old friend with whom I have ridden the roller coaster for over a decade. We met as ambitious college students, lived on macaroni and cheese as young entrepreneurs, and she is now on the verge of the deal of her lifetime. I know it is not my pride to feel, but I am so proud of her I could burst.
There are other friends who have appeared more recently, but they are no less dear to me. When they talk passionately about their companies and ideas, I get a thrill that just can't come from anywhere else. And when they talk me through a dark moment, or help me to solve a problem, the gratitude I feel simply knows no bounds. It is a trade in which I am reaping enormous profits -- that will one day be returned. You see, the cycle works that way; it is a "pay it forward" scenario that ensures the true entrepreneurs of the world will survive. We like to keep our team strong and well-equipped.
Some might see this as a second-handed or altruistic view, but it couldn't be further from that. There is a unique kind of joy we experience when we recognize a kindred soul -- it is like a magnet that holds us together and gives us an exponential strength of spirit. For someone who has never lived this life, it can seem incomprehensible. Why suffer? Why take the harder road? Why put every ounce of yourself into something that might not work? Why can't you just be normal and get a job like everyone else?
The answer is simple: We would not know how to function if we were not in the act of bringing a vision to fruition. It is what drives us -- the conviction that it can be achieved, that we do have a better way to build it -- and no one is going to tell us otherwise.
On that lonely road, it is magnificent to discover a travel companion who sees the world through your eyes, and understands why such passions and visions are important. It is reassuring to have someone standing strong behind you when the rest of the world thinks you have gone off the deep end.
And though we may struggle in the effort to get to that summit of achievement, we are exhilarated by the process. We live the dream instead of fantasizing about it from a cubicle; we move things forward. If we couldn't fulfill this need to create on a grand scale, we would likely die a slow death of the spirit, doused in mediocrity, quietly suffocating in the comfort zone. So we choose the path that is unpaved, rocky, and at times treacherous; but we wouldn't have it any other way.
That is what makes us this few, this passionate few, this band of brothers.
Jennifer Iannolo is the editor of the Atlasphere, and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Gastronomic Meditations, an online magazine celebrating the sensual pleasures of food. Needless to say, her macaroni and cheese is now prepared with handmade pasta, and only the finest variety of Fontina.
