Beth Goldstein, Edge Institute Branding, Business Growth, Business Planning, goal setting

Entrepreneurship Education on MSNBC – Hope you can tune in this Sunday, Sept. 23

 

I’m excited to be invited back as a guest expert on

MSNBC’s Your Business

this Sunday, September 23 @ 7:30 am ET

We’ll be discussing entrepreneurship education and featuring a recent graduate from the BU School of Management (whom I am really proud of!)

I hope you’ll watch – I’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts on the topic!

If you’re not a morning person, just set your recorder or you can visit my website or
MSNBC’s Your Business website afterwards
to watch the program.
Beth Goldstein, Edge Institute Branding, Business Growth, Business Planning, goal setting, Marketing, Sales

Why Is Walking Away So Darn Hard…Even When It’s the Right Decision?

I haven’t slept well over the past few weeks plagued by a ‘Go – NO Go’ decision over a major contract that was certain to have a huge impact on my business and my personal life.  Why is walking away ALWAYS so darn hard, even when you know it’s the right decision?

A few years back I was involved with helping a non-profit organization create a curriculum for a program to educate inner city businesses throughout the U.S. They ran the program through the SBA and now, in its fifth year, the program is offered in almost 30 cities. The contract with the SBA to run the program recently became available for bid and boy, did I want it. I really, really wanted it (did I mention that I wanted the contract?).

The current program is excellent and I have a lot of respect for the organization running it but, like every entrepreneur, I was (and still am) confident that I could make it even more effective in terms of its economic impact on urban businesses. I’ve run a variety of uniquely designed business accelerator programs since then for a number of organizations engaged in helping small business owners grow, including the state of Massachusetts. So taking the lessons learned, I am totally confident that I could deliver one heck of a program. So, what’s the problem? Why not go for it?

Well, honestly I wish it wasn’t such a complicated decision but the bottom line is, I don’t currently have the business model nor infrastructure required to effectively run the program in so many cities (30 simultaneously). My fear is that running a program of that scale would either destroy my current business model  or my mental stability or both. The thought of not sleeping for an entire year is not very appealing. Have you been in a similar situation where you really (REALLY!) wanted to do something but your gut told you, Stop and evaluate what this will mean in terms of your business and your life? It’s akin to a chef who loves to cook opening a chain of restaurants across the country all at the same time. She might be able to handle running one (although preparing amazing meals and running a business are different) but a chain, I don’t think so!

(Continue Reading on the Marketing Edge Newsletter Website…)

Beth