Business Related Articles

One of the most striking aspects of entrepreneurial literature is that so much of it is comprised of stories. One finds only a limited amount of basic research, partly because so much of what we do is a seat-of-your pants, discover-as-you-go-along venture. There is no right path for any individual in any venture. Instead, entrepreneurism is more a culture where stories are handed down, passing on wisdom from generation to generation. And these stories can serve as a guideposts as well as being an inspiration.

Entrepreneurs have been breaking new ground for many centuries. From the earliest inventors and explorers entrepreneurs have been seeking new paths and new solutions for the world of business. Early entrepreneurism was espoused as early as by Horace in ancient Rome and was certainly practiced by the Italian traders in late medieval Italy. The real rise of the commercial entrepreneur began, however, with the industrial revolution.

In America the first entrepreneur to use industrialized manufacturing was Samuel Slater, a British mechanic, who opened the first cotton-spinning mill in 1790. In a sense, since then, entrepreneurism has been the hallmark of American business. It is hard to name a business in the United States today that was not founded as an entrepreneurial venture. Many of these business' histories are an inspiration - and highlight the incredible odds that individuals have overcome to become the businesses that exist today.

Here are a few stories from our contemporaries about how they have gone about starting and making a success of their businesses:

• Auto Repair - Strategy for Growth
  
  strategy for growth
• Junk Idea
  
  Story about the Junk Idea
• Planning
  
  Planning as a business and the art of planning
• Marketing
  
  Surviving the economic downturn
• Website
  
  website start up guide and free quotation