I want to tell you the story of the Longaberger Basket Company. I was amazed now I did just search Google and they’re out of business now but back in the 80s they were a thriving basket making company right here in America here’s the short story the summary mr. Longaberger was not a high IQ person in fact when he was in the sixth grade his sister that was below him passed him because he stayed in the sixth grade three years in other words he’s 6th grade she was fifth grade next year they’re together and the next year she advances and he’s still in the sixth grade he graduates at age 21 so this is not a issue of intelligence but he was an entrepreneur you’re going to learn that entrepreneurs are not necessarily the highest scholastic achievers and you’re going to see that pretty regular and so the point of me telling these stories is that the concept of entrepreneurship is more caught than taught you can go to school and we’re talking about putting together a curriculum ourselves to help people but we got it we’re putting it together in a way that it’s the sum of lots of personal life stories of how people actually started so Mr Longaberger was a man of integrity at one point these baskets first of all are hand woven baskets and they sold for hundreds of dollars they were collectors items I doubt if they’re worth much now I don’t know but they built these baskets and it came to a point they built a warehouse a five-acre warehouse I went and visited it was in Newark ne W AR K Ohio not too far from Columbus and I actually after reading the book and and reading it several times I had a reason to be driving near that and I went out of my way because not only did they have this large warehouse where they’re hand weaving baskets it’s amazing story and but they also built a seven store headquarters that look just exactly like the Mary Poppins basket that you might see in Mary Poppins or in Gone with the Wind where there’s a little of the basket that you go out for set on the grass and have a basket lunch and this thing was seven stories tall and each story was one of the weaves of the basket and so that’s how each story was the arches were so high that in the middle of the winter the ice cubes would build up so they had to heat the arches so that the ice cubes were not torpedoes coming down into the into the terrarium in the middle of the building this is amazing but the point I’m making about it is I read biographies write biographies about people and how they started mr. green mr. Dave green he hardly graduated from high school his he was so shy if you read the book more than a basket or more than a basket is a longer burger but the story of Hobby Lobby you’ll see that in as a senior in high school he was so shy he wouldn’t speak in front of the the the small student classes the English classes what was in so his teacher having a little bit of a heart let let him give his speech just to her so he could get at passing grade he went on and has developed the Hobby Lobby and the and the and the mardell’s bookstore amazing story read the stories of Sam Walton and how he started and the way he did is it’s an old book now all these are older books don’t don’t don’t think that you’re going to be reading a more current book but doesn’t matter no these are principles and laws of how these people got started mr. Walton started in in one town in Missouri and he didn’t have a long-term lease and so as soon as he got his his marketing going and had a lot of people come and he was ramping up his his landlord jacked the prices the lease is way up he had to move out of that town big loss because he moved over to Bentonville Arkansas I’m sorry over here to the northwest Northwest Arkansas and and this is a the main economy for that area let me tell you about Stanley Tam’s I my wife and I went two and a half hours out of our way to meet and shake the hand and spend a couple hours with Stanley Tam’s his book is called God owns my business and in the early 40s and 50s he was made his first bit of income from recycling silver he found out that silver was being used in the development of pictures you know before Kodak they developed here and he made a way to recycle the silver and collect it from all these little photo labs and in the middle of that and he discovered the first elements of plastic to imagine the guy that was not he didn’t discover plastic but he saw a plastic pickle ball drum bucket and he realized the future in that and he had and he’s deceased now I’m sure but but he created us plastics again with a huge warehouse selling plastics and and and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in every order there was a little track in every order I’m telling me these stories to encourage you to read biographies listen to people get around people if you can go and you have a chance just to go respect them be polite don’t ask for a private meeting if there’s someplace go see if you could meet them even ask him if you want I called mr. Tam cz’s office and as the secretary said I just called the first time and I said hey ma’am I happen to be gonna be close to your city and my wife and I would like to stop by and and in some way meet mr. Tam’s this is what would you like to talk to him he really right now yeah and he starts talking to me so these people are reachable if you do it right and so the subject of this lesson is yes you can learn accounting and spreadsheets and and the technical side of your business and you can learn all about a business plan on how to project financial statements but those things are important don’t get me wrong but if you don’t catch the spirit of being an entrepreneur you’re probably not gonna make it you’re not probably not my dad was an entrepreneur I was blessed to live in a household that I watched him make mistake and then correct his mistakes and get over them he lost money in several different ways several different places but I was able to observe him through my younger years so I hope this helps I’m available I can’t call and talk to everybody but if you want to give me a call give me a call I’ll do what I can to help you but the the that I’m not elevating myself to those levels I’m just saying get around somebody that’s a true entrepreneur hang around with them if you can for sure read their materials and hear them talk if they ever talk thanks for being a part of inspiring better business