101: My Family’s Entrepreneurial DNA

While I was researching this episode, I came across this article in The Tampa Times from 1926 talking about my family’s preserving company. It made me think of how much my family’s entrepreneurial DNA has passed through many generations, and hopefully will continue.

Episode prompt

Take a moment to reflect, or write about, the entrepreneurial influences you’ve experienced throughout your life. Consider what you’ve taken away from those experiences and exposure to entrepreneurial thinking, whether watching a TV program about startups like Shark Tank, or you know family members or friends who started their own business, etc.

Write/think about how those lessons, stories, examples, and people have inspired you to create your own business—as well as the things that may have deterred you from doing certain business models. For example, in his later years, my brother often advised me to never have employees. That if I could do the work myself and make six figures a year, that would be all I would need. He was preaching to the choir back then because I never did want to grow my creative agency to anything super big with a staff and the overhead of an office location etc. It may have kept my business small, but I’m happier for it.

Recall your own sources of entrepreneurialism and realize that you’ve been inspired to take a your own entrepreneurial journey for a long time.