Good Article on Being an Entrepreneur

Posted on January 16, 2018 Updated on November 29, 2023

Nearly every morning, I start the day out by reviewing news on business, technology, and finance / markets. Occasionally there is a general interest article that I stumble across. Today it was a short article about Curt Culver, Co-Founder of Culver’s Restaurants.

Several great points seem like common sense in hindsight but are often well out of focus during the “heat of the battle” as you build your business. Mr. Culver touches several of them:

1. The Importance of having the proper Work / Life Balance
   • For me personally, this was one of the toughest aspects of growing my business. I worked 100+ hours a week, traveled at least 50% of the time, and was often “not there,” even when spending time with my family.
     • My habits also set the expectations for others on the team, and I later realized that this also created some strife at home for them.
   • The turning point for me was when my youngest daughter, then 4 years old, told her twin brother and older sister, “Daddy really does love us; he just works all the time so that we can live here and have all of this stuff.” It was painful enough to hear that, but it was a wake-up call about what is really important in life – people (especially family and friends), not “stuff.”
2. The Need to Develop others on your Team
   • From past experiences, I understood the need to hire the best people you could afford – people with complementary skills (not just clones of yourself) and who were better than you in at least one aspect. That diversity added value, while the similarities made it easier to “get on the same page” quickly. From there, it was important to understand their goals and work together on career planning early – something that adds value to both parties.
   • One of my goals in developing my team was to have everyone understand the big picture and empower them to make good decisions for the business. 
     • While most of this occurred, my goal was to have each and every person think and act like owners of the business. That level of engagement and accountability only happened with my most senior person, who was also my first hire and owned a small part of the company.
   • The moment when I recognized success was during a mission-critical ERP system upgrade for our largest customer – a multi-billion dollar semiconductor reseller. I sat in on project and team meetings, reviewed reports, and asked a few questions, but that was it. It was a very proud and empowering moment for me.
     • The weekend of the pre-migration test, I received a call telling me that everything had been successful and that the migration was going forward the next weekend.
     • The following weekend I received a nightly summary email, and on Sunday afternoon received a call telling me that the new system was operational and supporting production with ease.
3. Culture
   • Mr. Culver states, “Culture is all about people.” From my perspective, that is mostly true, but there are other important dimensions of culture based on my experiences.
   • To me, the Cultural Identity of your company starts out as something aspirational and later grows into the glue that bonds every member of your team. It helps bring out the best in everyone, including the camaraderie and support from working with people you like and trust.
     • There were two unexpected consequences of actively focusing on culture, which were:
       1. We quickly transformed into a High-Performance Organization. Everyone pushed to continuously “raise the bar.” There was healthy competition between people, but each team member was a “safety net” for others. Having the team win was far more important than winning as an individual.
       2. New Hires that were not a good fit recognized that very quickly and usually quit within the first 2-3 weeks. I only had to terminate one person who wasn’t a good fit during the probationary period.
4. Having a Support System
   • Mr. Culver addresses failure and the importance of family to help support you in times of need.
   • One of the biggest lessons I learned was that nothing that I did or accomplished with my company would have been possible without the support of my wife, children, parents, and in-laws (the latter two providing financial support during the early years in times of need).
     • With understanding comes humility.

These are lessons learned that can be applied to any size organization and in my opinion, are a great investment in the future growth, value, and longevity of your company.

Here is the link to the article referenced