Mind Yo' Own Freakin' Business

Well, my pets ... my dreams of starting my own business is coming (very, very slowly) to fruition. The swirling ideas are pulling together in my head, and the resulting vision is pretty darn palpable!

It's scary to think that the fate of my financial life and overall livelihood is dependent on some of those very fickle, unruly and generally ungrateful people I rant about in my blog. But, I have a vision, even for the morons, and it will succeed.

My family is full of entrepreneurs and go-getters, but the one person that has most influenced me is my late grandfather Hayes (most everyone called him C.R. or Rudy). Back in the day, the story goes that he was an icebox salesman -- the kind of icebox that you put ice in rather than plug it in. When the refrigerator made its debut, instead of depressing himself with the other Henny Pennies, he decided to moonlight as a refrigerator salesman and market to all his existing icebox customers. The overwhelming success of this move set him and his fledgling family up fairly comfortably - although I wouldn't call it well-off by any stretch.

WWII was thrown in the mix, too, and after he was discharged, he took the money he'd saved and, with my grandmother, opened up my hometown's first drive-in diner -- the E&R Drive-In. It was there that my mother, a teenaged curb hop on roller skates, met my father, and the result - two children later - was yours truly.

The success of the E&R brought a good deal of prosperity and notoriety to my grandfather. He soon began to dabble in other endeavors before finally resting on large-scale real estate. As my grandmother aged, and her seven children took their toll on her, he felt the need for a more lucrative and sustainable income. The real estate business took off very well and Hayes & Hayes Realty is what set the legacy up for the whole family, well beyond his years.

I recount all this story only to say that my grandfather's entrepreneurial spirit speaks to me deeply. He never knew anything BUT owning his own business and forging his own way. I feel such a connection with that spirit that I feel no matter what I choose to do, I cannot and will not fail.

This is something I need to do folks.