Review: It's Not Personal, It's Just Business
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 18, 2012
I'll never forget the time I began one of my first business ventures.Outside of managing a paper route as a teenager for five years, my wealth of business acumen was relegated to simple face-to-face newspaper delivery and the weekly ringing of doorbells to collect the monies owed.Delivering papers wasn't a terrifically taxing or difficult responsibility---but it was tedious and time-consuming. Having this responsibility made me highly cognizant of catering to the customers' requests and needs; of paying bills diligently and on time; of schmoozing with the clientele in order to strengthen professional and personal bonds of communication; and to take enormous pride and satisfaction in doing a job well.But what happened to me over two decades ago served as a powerful wake-up call to do my homework as diligently as possible and learn from any and all pitfalls.It wasn't pretty.I was running an errand for my mother, and I needed to stop at the local supermarket for a couple of foodstuffs. I had chanced upon one of those postcards you find stuck on a supermarket "Help Wanted" billboard by the automatic entrance doors. The ad purported to help me start up my own business by offering students valuable scholarship information provided by this company, which was based just outside of Chicago.Having always had a strong interest and belief in the importance of a good education, I was immediately transfixed at the opportunity that presented itself.I snatched up one of the postcards, purchased several items in the store, and drove home to fill out the application printed on the card's backside.Upon closer scrutiny, I noticed that I would need to front the initial costs of my overhead.Plus, the entire package---complete with fliers, videos, and helpful hints for expanding my venture into the surrounding vicinity---could be had for a one-time only processing fee of...$425.After all, such expenses are part of doing business...right?If hindsight provides a superlative vantage point from which to survey all acts of utter naivete, then I must have gotten lost attempting to scale the summit of Mount Stupid.As it turned out, the information that I received in the mail turned out to be misleading and borderline illegal. Additionally, I later discovered that anyone looking for a scholarship and was planning to attend college could either a)check with their high school guidance counselor; b)contact their college or university of interest and request a scholarship application, or c)go to the local public library and research said scholarships from the college catalogs located on the reference shelves.So why would a prospective college student shell out sixty-five bucks for free information? (Keep in mind that all of this was before the Internet.)Have you ever experienced that horrific sinking feeling in your gut where you taste sour and you have to swallow hard just to keep from dry heaving? That's precisely what I experienced when I realized I was out all that hard-earned money I had diligently been saving.But hey, that's business...right?I was embarrassed, humiliated, and angry that I had been duped. I remember contacting the Better Business Bureau to see if the situation could be rectified. I was told that, because I had signed a legal binding contract, there was almost nothing that could be done in a court of law.All I could do was lick my wounds and try to learn from my financial debacle. The sheer horror of being taken for a fool was such a blow to my ego that I assiduously avoided any and all risk-taking for a very long time.I never returned to another business venture until twenty-five years later, when I decided to become an independent contractor and freelance writer. Fortunately, I enjoy what I do, and while I may never become obscenely wealthy from it, I am able to earn a supplemental income to my other full-time job as a dishwasher.So what are the lessons learned from my failed business venture from a quarter-century earlier?1. I failed...and I didn't get back up. I lay there, so to speak, and felt sorry for myself.2. I let my fear of failure influence my future choices. I sought out situations and made choices that were not risky, but  also did offer room for personal growth.3. I equated failure with only failure. To truly learn from my mistakes is success---but of course, I wasn't listening.4. Life is too short to dwell on past mistakes. Acknowledge them, learn from them, and move on.Had I had the tenacity and the foresight to speak up on behalf of myself, I think I would have been more assertive in sticking up for myself and for the fact that I had been defrauded.I took the adage "Once bitten, twice shy" to a personal extreme, and I really didn't need to do so.Maybe I could have taken lessons from Stephen Williams's "Social Networking: Be Social Even Virtually" and learned how to develop contacts so that I would have had an emotional cushion upon which to land and assess the damage.Williams's thesis is this: in the business world, an entrepreneur is the only sure way to have complete control over your work and your life, and that "(t)he road to success is hard and sweaty and chances are you'll have to sacrifice a lot of your spare time. But if you're keen on making money, there is no other way...You're going to have to work A LOT to prove yourself as a reliable entrepreneur." (intro.)Williams corroborates the lessons learned for the past two-and-a-half decades---hard work (and smart work, too) is the key to success, such as in the business world.Since businesses are a part of the larger community, it would stand to reason that, if you are seeking a greater profile among other business proprietors, it would be beneficial to get to know as many business leaders as possible: CEOs; CFOs; community liasions; human resource directors; political figures; etc. The schmoozing and glad-handling should also be taken into consideration, since face-to-face time---both in person and online, e.g. Skype---is the cornerstone to successful business relationships.Additionally, being marketing-savvy will enable oneself to take advantage of as many different social networking sites as possible. While technology has advanced to the point where the average citizen is aware of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc., the grunt work of making phone calls and establishing good community relationships will always be the proverbial ace in the hole. Human communication has been successful on a person-to-person basis for thousands of years and is in no real danger of dying out or becoming obsolete.Williams's observations are keen and fairly accurate, and he continuously promotes his vision of financial success in the fervent hope that anyone can accomplish whatever monetary goals they wish to achieve.His enthusiasm and positive approach are admirable, but I would add, as an aside, that perhaps such targets are more easily attainable if social networking is indeed utilized. The adage of one hand washing the other rings true: after all, it's not altogether unreasonable for someone to expect help or a favor in return for taking another step closer to reaching said goals.Aside from the title being unwieldy and grammatically erroneous, Williams has written a solid, entertaining title that provides decent entertainment and practical wisdom.