Beans, Bums, and the Hollywood Sign: Entrepreneurs Put It All On the Line
As we wove our way through the Hollywood Hills, over bumpy roads, hairpin turns, and every brand of luxury car in existence, the thought that we almost didn’t make this trip happen gave me chills. Everything about the moment we arrived at the viewpoint was perfect. Perched just underneath the famous Hollywood sign, we stopped for our first dinner in California after a long drive from Oregon.
The stars were out, beautiful houses looked down from all around, and you could see out over the city. That night we owned Hollywood.
*Music* “I thought I told ya’ll I was living like that, so high I could never go back. What if I never put it all on the line to be a big timer, to be a big timer?”
Ironically, we were living like no big timers I know. We piled out of my Saturn, changed our clothes by the car, peed in the bushes, and then found a rock on which to place my fifteen dollar camp stove to cook an .89 cent can of beans. “Straight bummin’ it”. Trying to be as cheap as possible, partly out of fun, and partly out of necessity.
I could feel a little bit of what I dream my future will be like. Now, don’t laugh, there are no plans to eat beans and pee in bushes all my life, I just mean that the feeling of a great success surrounded by people I love is something I will undyingly pursue.
The trip held some parallels to the entrepreneurial journey: We set out with a plan but one that constantly changed, we didn’t know where we were sleeping from night to night, and we didn’t have as much cash as we would have liked. There were times when we had to adapt, help each other out, and build key relationships with new people. (aka places to sleep)
The typical personality of an entrepreneur is one that is extremely motivated by dreams and imaginings of the future. Brushes with the future can boost you toward making it a reality and surrounding yourselves with the personalities that think futuristically will leave you constantly motivated to get there.
Entrepreneurs never have to wonder what if. To that, I propose a toast of beans straight out of the can to everyone out there putting it on the line everyday to be a big timer. Entrepreneurs run the world and they risk everything to do it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQCLTrlyugk[/youtube]