Five years ago in this column, I gave you the lowdown on the
first 20 years of Entrepreneur's history. The past
hasn't changed, so I won't repeat it here. I'd rather
look ahead, because, as the Fleetwood Mac tune goes, I can't
"stop thinking about tomorrow." (Sorry. I'm a baby
boomer. I can't help it.)
As entrepreneurs, that's something you all should be doing:
thinking about tomorrow. What's next? For you? For your
business? For our nation? The answers to all those questions lie
with you. Sorry to dump all that responsibility on your head, but
it's the truth. By now, you know the drill: You create the
jobs, you employ nearly half the nation, you generate more than
half the gross domestic product. And what do you get in return?
Up till now, not a whole hell of a lot. In January, the
Democrats on the House Small Business Committee issued a report
calling for help for the nation's entrepreneurs. In March,
President Bush issued his plan to help small businesses grow. Many
of the objectives are the same. I interpret that (in my own
Pollyanna way) as proof that many of the issues that affect you
have bipartisan support. I hope some things will have already been
put in place by the time you read these words. If not, then
it's up to you to do something. You didn't get where you
are by sitting back, waiting for things to happen. You made them
happen. That's what entrepreneurs do—to paraphrase George
Bernard Shaw, if you don't find the circumstances you want, you
create them.
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So it's time, it's way past time, to create better
circumstances. Not only for you, but for the entrepreneurs who will
follow in your footsteps. For several years, we've heard ad
nauseum about the birth of the New Economy. Then about the death of
the New Economy. The truth is, the so-called New Economy wasn't
all that new. The principles were the same ones that forged the
Industrial Revolution. It was an entrepreneurial economy that
blossomed in the '90s, and it ain't dead.
Entrepreneur remains an independent magazine, in a world
where the independents are either folding or being gobbled up by
behemoths (our competitors are owned by two of the world's
largest media corporations). Our entire industry had a rough year.
Ours was a bit less rough than most. Our competitors like to put
their own spin on who you are (and believe me, you wouldn't
like what they say about you). Many think the independents
can't make it on their own. But they're wrong. We're
proof of that. More business owners read Entrepreneur than any
other monthly business magazine. Our crack sales staff sold more
ads last year (that's how magazines pay the bills) than any
other business monthly. And we outsell our competitors on the
newsstand (a good sign of a magazine's vitality) by at least
four to one.
Twenty-five years ago, we were ahead of our time. Few knew or
cared what an entrepreneur was in 1977. Today everyone knows. And
everyone says they care. We know you because we are you. We
don't have deep pockets to keep us going. We get by with grit
and guts and passion. Our employees do more with less, because we
work for a man, not a conglomerate. We know what you're going
through, because we're going through it, too. We have survived,
and we will thrive. So will you. There's something about
entrepreneurs. Like Jim McCann, the brilliant entrepreneur who
founded 1-800 Flowers, said: "Entrepreneurs are like Weebles
(the toy so many of us grew up with). And remember, Weebles wobble,
but they don't fall down."