Live in Entrepreneurial Freedom: The How to Guide for Aspiring Midlife Business Owners

By Charles M. Alexander

A growing U.S. middle age population combined with the lasting financial realities of the 2008 Recession have caused many Americans to re-think their "retirement" plans. Live in Entrepreneurial Freedom digs into the psychological challenges someone in their 40's, 50's or even 60's face when starting their first business and helps them understand why their "Maturity of Thought" is the very best weapon they have toward achieving greater success than most others. A real world, down to earth approach peppered with intimate personal stories from the author not only make for a great read but also helps the reader make very challenging questions and concerns a little easier to answer and digest. By the end of this book you should know, with great certainty, if starting a business is the right thing for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543959697

Book preview

Copyright 2019, Charles M Alexander, All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN: 978-1-54395-968-0 (print)

ISBN: 978-1-54395-969-7 (ebook)

Much gratitude and appreciation go out to my family for their love & support during this ever changing and evolving process.

Especially my wife Helen who has persevered in her life as the spouse of a life-long entrepreneur and all that brings – she has been my rock for all these years.

Contents

Introduction

Step One: How to Clearly Define Your Vision of Success

Step Two: How to Choose the Right Advisors

Step Three: How to Research, aka, Test, Test, Test

Step Four: How to Launch for Success(that’s the easy part)

Step Five: How to Sustain Success

Begin with The End in Mind: Exit Strategies

The 4 Skill Sets That Cause Most Entrepreneurs To Succeed

Why Charlie?

Chapter 1

Introduction

*Most first time business owners fail – (You should not be one of them!)

Many people fall into the yeah, that’s true, but it wouldn’t be me category when talking about first time business failures. It is that very arrogance as to why so many people fail miserably in their first business venture. Don’t be one of them. The golden nuggets of information contained in this book are woven through out. To get the most from this book (and from the corresponding program I have built) you must put forth the effort. If you are serious about starting a business and want to virtually guarantee your success, read this book and enroll in my program. Once you complete them you’ll fully understand why I use the term arrogance. Remember the ancient saying; pride go-eth before a fall as you read this book keep this in mind; you know what you know, but you don’t know what you don’t know. And, if you want to know how to start and successfully run a business you’ll spend time and energy learning – that is exactly what any successful business owner has done for centuries. This book, and my program, save you lots of money, time and much heartache on your journey to successful business ownership.

It is my hope that by reading this book, you will gain insight as to why middle-aged people are most often the best suited to succeed in starting a business. In some sections, I have purposefully written in a conversational style—some may even find it chatty at times. There are also sections that delve into deeper aspects of more serious topics, specifically addressing what being a successful business owner requires. These include some discussions that touch on psychological profiles, skills, and traits that have been found to provide the foundation of a solid business owner. Another section shares some of the highly technical tools used by big name corporations that started out tiny and grew into the behemoths they are today. I have attempted to maintain a balance between the professional advisor and the friend who really wants to see you succeed in whatever your endeavor may be. Occasionally, I will include a Charlie-ism, such as, As long as you wake up breathing, it’s all good.

… I will explain the history of that one later in the book …

WHY ME?

Can we address the 800-pound gorilla in the room: the question of why would you choose me over other people who also offer their advice in this same space?

I asked this question myself repeatedly for the last few years as I prepared to write this book and create the Entreguru Community. What do I provide that makes your investment a good one? And many other questions just like these. You see, I am ever the businessperson; I cannot help but calculate ROI (Return on Investment) even when it involves putting myself in the other person’s shoes. At this stage of my life, it is just who I am. I do it instinctively … my wife gets a kick when we are somewhere standing in line or spectating an event—it doesn’t really matter where or what—and I am always calculating the potential revenue and estimated expenses involved with what is right there in front of me. As you will learn from reading this book, I have been doing business for the last four decades; or, in other words, I have been doing business most of my life, and I back that claim up throughout the book. By the way, when I say doing business that means owning and running small- to medium-sized businesses.

Here is the trimmed-down, fat-off-the bone answer as to why, if you truly want to succeed in your first mid-life business, you will want to spend time reading this book:

You will learn valuable life and business lessons from a two-time cancer survivor with 40+ years of genuine hands-on entrepreneurial experience starting, running, and exiting 17 businesses in eight industries. One who went through Business Grad and Law school in his forties, obtaining MBA and Juris Doctorate degrees respectively, while simultaneously and successfully turning around a failing restaurant utilizing inexperienced management …

I will be weaving personal stories into sections of the book when they are pertinent to the subject at hand. Additionally, I will include what I call Charlie-isms, sayings I have developed over the years that sum up and/or capture an important life lesson from that particular moment or experience. I will also include capsulized lessons I have learned over the years. At the end of the book, you will find a section that systematically chronicles my life in bite-sized chunks. I have tried to share important moments that guided my journey and ultimately formed who I am today.

**Excerpts from Chapter Nine

In Chapter Nine I share many intimate stories to help explain why I believe I am the very best person to help you during this journey into and through entrepreneurship to secure financial freedom for you and your family.

Please note, if you’re the type person who prefers understanding the big picture first, and likes to know where you are going, and where this information is coming from before digging into the meat and potatoes (that happens to be my preferred method of learning) then you may want to read Chapter Nine first – it stands alone from the rest of the book and does not require any of the previous chapters to promote your learning;

WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO TAKE ADVICE FROM ME?

#1 -- A Business Perspective

One key trait that ‘natural’ entrepreneurs possess is the propensity to see every situation from a business perspective…

It became evident quite early in my life that I was, in fact, a natural entrepreneur. Let me share with you this story of how I turned a simple paper route into a thriving business in my early teens [even though I had no idea of what being an ‘entrepreneur’ was or even that that word existed]:

When I was 12-13 years old…

. . . I managed one of the largest paper routes in the district and simultaneously built a side business of collecting old newspapers from my customers, as well as what was put out for the town collection. At the time, blown-in insulation—chemically treated for fire resistance, shredded newspapers—was becoming very popular and the price of old newspapers was rising very fast. I hired a friend because the two of us could manage to get three shopping carts through the streets, whereas I could only handle one by myself.

. . . . I was 12 years old, pulling in approximately $500 a month—in 1977. Lesson: Sometimes it comes easy …

#2 -- ‘Life in the Trenches’ Real-World Business Experience with a Dose of Hard-Knocks

As I’ve alluded to throughout my book, there are a plethora of self-proclaimed business experts out there who are, in reality, no more than professors with consulting careers … or, worse yet, retired corporate executives. My credentials, on the other hand, stem from over 40 years of life in the trenches of real-world, day-to-day, ups-and-downs, entrepreneurial business experience… in all phases of business… across numerous industries. . .

When I was 18-24 years old…

A lot happened during these years—some good, some bad. This is the time when I developed the saying (Charlie –ism) As long as you wake up breathing, it’s all good.

. . . His and mine was a simple arrangement—he was the boss and I was the horse. We started an automotive towing business. Now to be fair and provide some background, he and I met when I went to work for him in his retail auto parts store so he had an idea of my work ethic—which was off the charts for a 17-year-old. . . . After Paul decided to move to Florida, I bought out his interest in the business, becoming 100 percent sole owner and setting out to grow as large as possible. . . . In a relatively six short years, I was able to buy out some competitors and organically grow the operation to about 10 pieces of equipment, averaging 14 full time and a bunch of part time employees doing about $50,000 a month in sales. Not bad for a 23-year-old with a high school education.

. . . Sometimes the lines between business and personal are blurred; I hired a girl to help in the office and do administrative work, one thing lead to another, we fell in love, and were married a few years after she first came to work for me. About 16 months after the wedding our baby was born; a healthy, beautiful baby girl. We bought a house and moved in when my daughter was 10 months old and then one week later my wife walked out. She told me she just didn’t love me anymore and I needed to accept it. This is not an easy thing for a 23-year-old to hear or deal with, especially when he is extremely busy running a 24 hour a day business.

. . . Unfortunately, that is not the only bad I had to deal with—as if that wouldn’t be traumatic enough. During this same period when I was 19, my oldest brother committed suicide. He was the shining star of our family at that point. A mechanical engineer who was at the top of his field, engaged to be married, and a homeowner. The family was blindsided and left shell-shocked.

. . . Then came another big blow; just after retiring and while in Florida with my dad, looking for the perfect place to live out their golden years, my mother became ill. While performing an operation for what they thought was the problem, the surgeons found cancer.

*Believe it or not those are not the only emotionally draining problems I had to deal with during this time. The rest are shared, in full, in chapter 9.

#3 -- A Solid Personal Foundation, a Track Record of Success, and a Fighting Spirit

So, while it’s true you want a mentor who has seen his share of life … which I plainly have, you also want someone who has a demonstrated track-record of business successes, combined with a solid foundation in his personal life. You also want someone who has demonstrated that he is fighter who won’t quit when the going gets tough. Let me share with you the period in my life when I was fortunate enough to develop all three of these…

When I was 25-38 years old…

By this stage, things had begun to ease up. I had sold my towing business to my right hand man . . .

. . . During this time, I met the woman I am still married to now, 27+ years later. When we met, we came from very different backgrounds and stories. I came from college-educated parents who were married until death they did part. She came from divorced parents and was the first person in her family to be going to college.

. . . I previously mentioned I have a really strong case of optimism. We stepped back, analyzed the situation, and decided to explore other areas of the country. We were willing to up root everything we knew and were comfortable with to move somewhere in this great country of ours to get a fresh start. The idea of staying in New York, spending 30 years of my life just to have a mortgage burning party and then retire to Pennsylvania or Florida was just not enough for me. My wife agreed; we needed more and were willing to take risk to obtain it. Lesson: Some risk is almost always required to achieve success

[In 1999 I was exploring the idea of starting a mortgage company and was entertaining using a company that – for a fee – provided training and connections in the mortgage industry]

. . . I approached my wife with the idea. Her first question was something like What do you know about mortgages? and after an extremely brief explanation—you can only say so much when you really don’t much of anything about a subject, she asked the question that we still talk about all these years later—What’s your plan B? My response, I don’t have one, this will work. Lesson: Laser beam focus and tremendous drive can overcome many shortcomings.

So let’s recap; I am going to spend a bunch of money with a company that, by its very design, succeeds by promoting a shortcut, to enter a field in which I have no experience whatsoever (other than the consumer side of the transaction, once), in an area in which I have zero contacts, and I have no backup plan. Yep, that might very well be the definition of startup insanity! Lesson: Confidence can be a dangerous thing if it is not backed by reason and experience.

Five years later, that company grew into eight different entities, employed over 65 people and was about a $100,000,000 a year operation

At 37 years old, I was diagnosed with cancer. Needless to say, this rocked our world, but also really helped put things in crystal clear perspective. . .

. . . It is a funny thing being a leader; it is important to be transparent with your team, but you also must walk a fine line of presenting a sense that everything is going to be okay. Everybody wants you to be healthy and get better soon, but it is important to completely grasp the reality that part of that is for his or her own welfare as well—no matter how callus it may sound, we all have a selfish part that worries about how a serious event will affect us. Lesson: A positive attitude may be the most valuable asset we possess.

During this period, my wife, with a little help from me on the business side of things, started a clinical research consulting business we still operate to this day. I like to say she does all the ‘smart’ work and I stay behind the scenes helping to keep it running smoothly.

#4 – Professional Credentials Plus Additional Business Success Stories

Perhaps you’re the type that values experience more than credentials. If you’re a true-entrepreneur at heart, that is probably the case. If not, I understand. You are with the majority of folks out there that want to see professional credentials before they will consider someone to be a ‘professional’ at what they do. It is this understanding that led me to a change in focus in my 40s.

There came a point in my life where I realized that, although I had amassed an incredible wealth of knowledge, experience, and expertise... none of that would matter in certain circles. I would have to have the professional credentials to prove it. So, I pursued obtaining those credentials, while still building my portfolio of business success stories…

When I was 39-50+ years old:

I decided to put some letters after my name and add to my creditability. In some circles, people without academic credentials or professional certifications are not considered relevant. I did not want to limit myself. Although I know that entrepreneurs are much more forgiving and accept that credentials are not everything, I did not know exactly where I was going to go for the second half of my career. With my wife’s blessing, I began the journey to pursue a joint JD/MBA degree program.

. . . I forgot to mention that during that year of preparation, getting ready to take the LSAT and begin graduate school, I convinced my wife and now adult stepson that we should buy a restaurant.

. . . to add even more to the challenge, I would install inexperienced family management. I identified a local failing restaurant that seemed like a good contender. It had great visibility on a very busy main thoroughfare. It was not a specialty place; it served American cuisine and had a generic brand identity. My plan was simple; while finishing my undergraduate degree and preparing to enter grad school we would buy the restaurant, I would give it two years being onsite and training my stepson in management and then I would step away to go to full time law school.

. . . We were very fortunate to enter negotiations with a national TV show [Bar Rescue with Jon Taffer] that rescues establishments. They came in, created a new and much better theme along with providing a new interior décor and point of sale system.

. . . The place is a [Huge] success; we have recently rolled out a brand new, fully equipped food truck and have been on the show numerous other times, most recently with the food truck as the main feature of another episode. There are numerous lessons to learn from just this experience alone. Lesson: Never give up. When you own your own business, you always have a fighting chance as long as you do not give up.

In closing, I love to teach people and help them make the very best decisions to obtain their goals. My Birkman assessment confirmed that I have the heart of a teacher.

I have been teaching and leading people for years and now I am expanding what I have done face to face for so many years to make it available for many more people all over the world.

I have spent almost my entire life starting, building, growing, and exiting businesses and then added nine years of higher education so I could serve my clients in virtually every aspect of their business needs. My program also helps them to better identify where they need to spend money with a specialist and where they can do it themselves with guidance from someone who has been there and knows how to nudge in just the right way, at just the right time.

These are just a few of the highlights from this powerful book that combines real world experience with high level educational credentials to provide you an intimate look at the trials and tribulations of a real world entrepreneur and successful life-long business owner.

So