Coffee - Food - Conversation
The W.O.N. Group
January 21st, 2025
How things start are not how things end. Those moments when all of a sudden things are moving at a pace faster than you were expecting and surity of success is not guaranteed. It is scary. Being unprepared and unsure of the first meeting of a group that was/is working on something new.
These are the unknowns that cause us sleepless nights as entrepreneurs.
That will be the first deep dive, what is an entrepreneur?
What is an Entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is someone who starts or owns a business. Whether it’s in farming, retail, manufacturing or in the service sector, entrepreneurs are businesspeople who find their success by taking risks. In their pursuits, they often become disruptors in established industries. (source:BDC)
The quick answer I like is “entrepreneurs are businesspeople who find their success by taking risks” - although its more than that. Any professional can be an entrepreneur and that is our point in Work Our Network. Our main goals that night was to share our experience and the discussions we had centered around:
What fuels you during your day - One critical answer was finding the client that is excited to work with you and even if you only work with that person once it was a rewarding day. You never know when that person might reach out. That passion is the demonstration of rewarding work and mindsets that culture business.
What is a hurdle of networking - Fly on the wall syndrome. All this talk about intraverts and extroverts has us needing to put labels on ourselves. Aren’t there enough labels going around? Within this conversation the idea of networking can be intimidating for some. Not knowing what to share or when, worried that your business is too small to matter in the group, and what if you don’t even have a business yet but you are thinking about it, will you be judged.
Why was a particular business chosen - Fun times for an entrepreneur. This question plagues so many of us. Is it the right time, Is it the right business for me. The big advice we heard on this was finding an experience that you want repeated. That should be the service or business you build as that will give the passion to push forward and fuel those internal batteries.
The next deep dive into the incredibly daunting world of entrepreneurship has a Twilight Zone-esque quality. .
The Entrepreneurship Zone
“It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.”
Twilight Zone Intro
Exploring the unknown is so frightening for entrepreneurs, or professionals testing boundaries, because the endeavor for new is not supported in the current landscape of citizen partnership. Recently, at a Schaumburg Business Association event a presenter shared that it is estimated that we make 80,000 decisions a day. This is astounding. For example, if the light turns green you have the choice of going to not. I would challenge this notion on the premise that to be apart of society some of our choices are disguised as choices but in reality the choice is made.
In the green light example, yes you can chose to go or not, but the consequence of not is possibly causing an accident, fines or tickets, public shame, loss of drivers license, physical injury, and so on. That doesn’t sound like a choice.
Entrepreneurship on the other hand is pure choice. DO you start the business or not. DO you make money or not. DO you DO you DO you. It doesn’t end. These are the topics we explore in a W.O.N. event. The actual hurdle that slowed down our progress, prevented us from moving forward, and defining in us a lessor us.
The industries represented that night span from coffee distribution, catering, sustainability, IT and business solutions, financial strategy, ghostwriting, and business development. The topic most talked about is how to support ourselves and others during this time of business professionalism. Thomas Wolfe once said “you can’t go home again”, on the surface this is ridiculous however in the mindset of growth once you grow past your base self you can never go back. To look at something in the same way will not happen again.
What a fantastic time we had together! The coffee was absolutely exceptional, and the discussion we shared was incredibly engaging and enlightening!
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