Introduction to Adventures in Entrepreneurship

Adventures in Entrepreneurship

The ordinary guy’s guide to taking the leap of faith

By Ardy Roberto

Introduction

"Jump! Jump! Jump!"

I was a chubby 9 year old boy standing on the edge of a diving board looking down and through at what seemed like 3 stories of white air space before I could make out what was a patch of water.

The Olympic size swimming pool didn’t look so Olympian in size anymore.

What if I missed the target and smashed my face on the side of the pool? What if I dove and broke my neck? My mom would kill me! What if I fell flat on my chest and the air got knocked out of me and I ended up floating on my stomach, a victim of drowning by stupidity. My Dad would be so ashamed.

“Go! Go! Jump! Jump!”

My cousins and friends who had brought us to this new country club in the south were egging me on much to the amusement and wishful thinking of my three sisters who I am sure, in their thoughts, were egging on my private fears of death and dismemberment. For them that would have meant one less sibling to share the new Sony Trinitron tv and Betamax in the house. And that was a good thing...for them.

I was about to climb back down the stairs to a lower level diving board until a friend appeared behind me wet and frazzled and eyes extra rounded from the high of having just jumped. He smiled and nodded at me. He was alive. And his neck still seemed to be in the right place.

And so I closed my eyes and jumped.

It was so wonderfully frightening that I did it again—this time with my eyes open. And again...and again until the old folks were shouting at us to quit jumping to have our cold spaghetti and fried chicken lunch.

I slept that night with my young soul satisfied.

I hope this book does the same thing for you, dear reader. You may be standing on the edge of your office or home looking out the window wondering what it will be like to take that plunge into entrepreneurship. I hope that this book will give you the same reassurance and encouragement that my friend’s smile and nod gave to me that enabled me to jump.

Here’s to your adventure.

Blessings,

Ardy Roberto

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Did you know that the word “entrepreneur” is actually french—and it means “adventurer”? Cool!

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