One of the most interesting individuals that I’ve ever met was an Italian immigrant who owns a high-end auto body shop for vintage cars. It was at least seven years ago when I was at his place of business. The shop was essentially a repair garage complete with the all the details one finds in a place that fixes broken things – the tools, the grease, the smudges on the walls, the lifts and the auto parts everywhere. There were at least three vintage cars that were parked in varying degrees of body repair and were a few stages from regaining its gloried past. Any of which, when finished, would easily appraise for a small fortune. There were things that I thought was peculiar to him. I noticed that when he welded things with his acetylene torch he did not use the dark lenses that welders use to protect their eyes from the intense light. He was either already partially blind that he developed some immunity to the glare or that he was born with some super eyesight that allowed him to do this.
In those days I made a living out of arranging loans for entrepreneurs and small business owners. They had a special energy that I always found invigorating. I still remember him because of what he said that really defined a group of people that I have come to admire – the entrepreneurs. Nobody has been able to define it for me any more precisely. I was trying to get his story so I can paint a particular picture of him that was not only impressive to investors but was also conducive to securing the needed funds. He looked me in the eyes, took a piece of unused paper napkin that he crumpled into a ball, threw it on the table and said, “I take things like this – nothing – and make something out of it”. I sat back smiling and in awe. No dictionary or encyclopedia has been able to give me a better definition before or since.
I recently left the employ of the pizza restaurant I was working at precisely because of that. I am an entrepreneur at heart and was miserable working for someone else. Once you’ve worked for yourself and have managed every detail of a business, anything else is a step down. When it all comes down to it, I am searching for my ball of paper napkin that I will fashion into something – hopefully into something extraordinary. I think my journey will require that I move to Silicon Valley because that is where ideas like mine are embraced, nurtured and doused with entrepreneurial nourishment. In thirty days, I’ll either be in Silicon Valley or I won’t – simple as that. It won’t be easy because my finances are not likely to change before then, if at all. It will be a story of an OC Bum moving to become a Silicon Valley Bum. But if the stars line up for me, and I hope very much it does, it will be a rags to riches story unlike anything that I have ever read.
In those days I made a living out of arranging loans for entrepreneurs and small business owners. They had a special energy that I always found invigorating. I still remember him because of what he said that really defined a group of people that I have come to admire – the entrepreneurs. Nobody has been able to define it for me any more precisely. I was trying to get his story so I can paint a particular picture of him that was not only impressive to investors but was also conducive to securing the needed funds. He looked me in the eyes, took a piece of unused paper napkin that he crumpled into a ball, threw it on the table and said, “I take things like this – nothing – and make something out of it”. I sat back smiling and in awe. No dictionary or encyclopedia has been able to give me a better definition before or since.
I recently left the employ of the pizza restaurant I was working at precisely because of that. I am an entrepreneur at heart and was miserable working for someone else. Once you’ve worked for yourself and have managed every detail of a business, anything else is a step down. When it all comes down to it, I am searching for my ball of paper napkin that I will fashion into something – hopefully into something extraordinary. I think my journey will require that I move to Silicon Valley because that is where ideas like mine are embraced, nurtured and doused with entrepreneurial nourishment. In thirty days, I’ll either be in Silicon Valley or I won’t – simple as that. It won’t be easy because my finances are not likely to change before then, if at all. It will be a story of an OC Bum moving to become a Silicon Valley Bum. But if the stars line up for me, and I hope very much it does, it will be a rags to riches story unlike anything that I have ever read.
