Small Business Week
“Invest in yourself” is the message from entrepreneur and power-motivator Tony Robbins, delivered in an engaging article in USA Today. The newspaper has planned articles featuring successful entrepreneurs to appear each day through May 7th in recognition of Small Business Week. This article cited research findings supporting the theme of small business owner burnout (lack of scheduled vacation, work in excess of 50 hours a week, etc.) leading Robbins to advise us to work smarter and not harder. I particularly appreciated his insights to the effect that we over-estimate what we can accomplish in a year, but we under-estimate what we can accomplish in a decade. He advises better self-care to see that we accomplish what we are capable of doing and recommends that we invest in ourselves for learning and growth.
I have taken this message to heart. Each year, I commit to a professional/entrepreneurial development program. In recent years, this has included the Executive Learning Program for Diverse Suppliers and the Tuck-WBENC-IBM Executive Program. This year, I am participating in the Emerging Leaders Initiative of the U.S. Small Business Administration and am evaluating courses for the second half of the year. One of my classmates in Emerging Leaders is a professional football player, formerly with the New England Patriots who has his own fitness business. He provides strong motivation for fitness and better self-care to run the entrepreneurial marathon. Tony Robbins probably didn’t intend his remarks to be interpreted in my limited context of disaster preparedness and recovery, but his approach reinforces my belief that the resilience of the small business emerges from the resilience of the business owner.