Small Business Is Personal

In Entrepreneurial Schizophrenia® we dedicate Chapter 1 to the point that small business is very personal. There's a Chinese Proverb that loosely translated reads: "Man with no smile should not open shop". The same is true for partners in  business or marriage.

The foundation of success in life - be it personal or business - is built on a great self image that emerges through personal mental well-being. Without a healthy psychology we are doomed to insane failure - repeating the same mistakes and expecting different outcomes. The statistics for failure demonstrate the general gross negligence of my point.

The human brain is a network of 10¹¹neurons with 10¹⁵ connections, making it the most complex system in the universe. Not much is known about the neuronal structures involved in ‘will’ and ‘self-control’ ^[1].

Some believe that “though our brains are hardwired by Nature, they are changeable by nurture” and that is primarily through experience – a good step beyond philosophy. It’s one thing to read about cycling which amounts to philosophy. It’s another to feel the wind through your hair, and the blur of the road beneath you which is experience ^[2].

The topic, and practice of personal growth is core to our life-long learning, and occupies several shelves in our library. It’s also given us years of grief while we searched for the holy grail - the x-factor – that stopped us from realizing our dreams and living in harmony. We know personally just how important – and far-reaching this subject is.

e chose a seedling as the icon for this section because it represents a principle especially known by enterprising couples. A seedling is delicate and full of potential. People, all but our best friends and family and partners see what’s above ground – and our partners get the whole thing. Our ‘underbelly’ and the ‘less than public’ part of our selves sometimes masked well by our pseudo-selves is worn thin by the stresses of our poor choices, AND what life seems to randomly dump on us.

Dealing effectively with our subconscious mind - at the root of our reactive behaviors can be challenging – and very expensive. This is absolutely true if we aren’t skilled at ‘renewing our mind’ as admonished in the Book of Romans. (Romans 12:2)

The first facet of the enterprising cycle is about personal development. This begins with awareness, and becomes a great friend when we take responsibility for CHANGING OURSELVES - and NOT OTHERS. From here we proceed to Exploring.

Daniel and Angelina

[1] Mind/Brain Institute - Johns Hopkins University
For the analytical and ‘prove it’ types: Read some of the findings, expert opinions and such. I’ve learned a lot about brain plasticity, neurophysiology, brain imaging, and psychophysics. I’ve earned the ‘Einstein’ exemption – the more I learn, the dumber I become. The research tends to lend credibility to more ‘mystical’ beliefs, meaning that the hard-core researchers claim not to know as much as the practitioners sell. This, and other technical sources make for an interesting perspective.

[2] What the ‘Bleep’ do we know!?
Having a background in nuclear physics, I cannot endorse the ‘science’ of the series, but I do recommend watching it as a challenge to our assumptions of the world around us, particularly the bad conclusions we build our lives on, like the Beverly Hillbilly truck, laden with stuff we would be better off without. You’ll find the Amazon ratings and comments polarized (love-hate). Enjoy!