Wednesday, March 21, 2012

"My name is Elwin, and I'm an...

...entrepreneurial junkie."

I feel like saying that after the exercise I've just completed.

I went to the Pennsylvania Department of State's website, and I looked up all the businesses that I have created.

I had forgotten a few.

Since May 28, 1987, I have created four sole proprietorships, three limited partnerships, two for-profit corporations, two limited liability companies, and one non-profit corporation. That's a dozen entities, or nearly one every two years.

Why? Not just because I keep having business ideas so fantastic that they demand their own entities for execution. No, I think it's more a matter of loving the sense of possibility that comes with each fresh start. That, and the fact that fresh starts are so dang easy.

I love this about America: that anybody with a couple of hundred bucks can create a legal entity for doing business out of thin air, in 30 minutes.

Learning to run a company? An entirely different matter.

I remember reading that successful entrepreneurs start an average of x number of businesses that fail before they succeed. I don't remember what x was, but I think that on that score, I'm well-qualified.

Now to pursue the question, "What can I learn from my mistakes?"

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