Entrepreneur Prison

Abstract:

Entrepreneur prison? I’ve been there. Even though I am mid-career, I have found myself serving concurrent “sentences” on the road to my definition of success via my enhanced commitment to doing things “my way”. The term “prison” is a metaphor for the absence of freedom. How does a free spirit such as the entrepreneur earn these handcuffs? How is the corporate executive imprisoned amidst climbing a ladder over a career span? I did it to myself, both ways, several times. Well, I didn’t do it intentionally. Neither have you.

My dreams and deeds put me in circumstances where my reality appeared to have bars. Through those seemingly immovable bars I could see the next phase, what I wanted it to be. However, the barrier before me was something to be dealt with before I could go further. Yet more choices: I can deal with it and move forward. I can shy away from it and accept mediocrity. I can quit dreaming altogether.

As an entrepreneur today, I encounter new forms of imprisonment as I hack my way through the uncharted undergrowth. The cold steel bars are real. In retrospect, I realize that during the brief time of my life when I was climbing the corporate ladder, I had the same steel bars in front of me – I was just standing on the other side. Barriers are everywhere and they impede our dream pursuits and sense of what happiness means. I’ve got to deal with barriers regardless of which side I stand because I can see through the bars to the other side – and that is enticing. You and I are unique in our interests and in what we instinctively strive to do and create with this life. We do not all fit into the perfect “employee” or “serial entrepreneur” molds so we continually prune our dreams and our actions to fit the norm – a very average and constrained role that works for society. Most importantly, we have yearnings that take our minds beyond our present reality and our spirit thrives upon this future activity “beyond the bars”. So, to move forward in life with a new perspective to feed our spirit and design our optimal contribution to others and ourselves, we need the freedom to act. This book is about assessing where you are within the many prison cells constructed in your (business) life – what stands between you today and your self-directed, happy future self. Once we know where we stand and how to recognize a prison cell, we learn how to methodically improve our freedom to act in whatever manner fuels our internal flame – with the spirit of our money-earning activity resembling free enterprise and the risk/reward profile of an entrepreneur. Can anyone do it? No! Can anyone who is more aware of HOW freedom is attained act in a more entrepreneurial manner and achieve the rewards that go with that? Absolutely! This book is for the person who believes their future is much greater than their assumptions of yesterday. You cannot prevent being forever changed by the concepts in this book that serve you and the ones you love.

- Mike Whitaker

Coming soon in Summer 2011!