FOREWORD

I have often credited ignorance with the starting and building of my business in 1977. I believe that if I had known what I was getting into, I would never have done it in the first place. But that is not a prescription for success, only for taking the risk. I probably could have gotten a lot further, and a lot faster, if this book had been available 34 years ago.

In the intervening years, I have seen friends, family, and acquaintances start businesses by the dozens. Some of them took the entrepreneurial path because they truly wanted to. Others were pressed into it as a result of layoffs, forced retirement, or burnout. Most limped along in their fledgling enterprises, and many failed. None of this was due to a lack of commitment, vision, or hard work. More often, it was because of a lack of good advice, poor planning, and a weak support network.

I am so happy that Susan and Ellen have written this book as a bible for all those entrepreneurs-in-waiting. We are going through a fundamental economic restructuring, and it is global and it is permanent. As futurists, we have seen this restructuring coming and have been following its consequences closely. Productivity goes up as real wages and expansive employment in the industrial world go down. On top of that, the industrial world is aging, with millions of people over 65 looking for relevance, as well as income, to sustain the last decades of their lives. Being able to get a well-paying job at any age that is both satisfying and secure is no longer the norm but, rather, the exception. Not everyone is born an entrepreneur, but many will want to learn how to become one. We will need many more tools to help people learn to do it right. This book is an important and needed addition to that tool kit.

We all approach reaching our goals differently. Some drive for financial success without thinking of the greater community. Some care about the public good and neglect the business fundamentals. Increasingly, we see budding entrepreneurs comparing themselves to the Internet billionaires, or the social entrepreneurs who have changed the public landscape. Whatever your goals, the business basics are the same. Without sound underpinnings, your goals will elude you, and your work will be for naught. If you are contemplating starting any kind of business, for whatever purposes you lay out in front of you, remember that it is still a business. You are not gambling against the house, you are not hoping to win the lottery, and you are not volunteering. You are starting a business. And the business of business is business.

Read this book. Use this book. Your future and the future of the world are bound together by the innovation and creativity we collectively bring to the work we do. Make that work count, and make it successfully endure. Ensure that your business endures, and make this book work for you.

—Edie Weiner, Futurist
    President, Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc.