The Entrepreneur of the Year
The Oscars of Business Awards
Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice.
Peter Drucker (1909-2005)
Are You an Entrepreneur?
Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.
Howard Schultz (1953-) Starbucks Chairman
What is your definition of an Entrepreneur?
Just take a minute to think about it.
Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) painting sold for $450 million in 2017. What was it worth in Da Vinci’s day? The fruits of an entrepreneur’s labour are often better appreciated over time, far after their death.
The term Entrepreneur was derived from the French verb “entreprendre” (“to undertake”) and first coined by Richard Cantillon in 1730 to describe someone who was taking a risk and making decisions in uncertain conditions.
Later in 1803, Jean-Baptiste Say described the entrepreneur as taking things of lesser value and creating higher value. Joseph Schumpeter in 1911 said the role of the entrepreneur was as an innovator and a driver of economic development through creative destruction.
My definition?
An entrepreneur is anyone who creates value for others and themselves. And everyone can create.
By my definition, God is an entrepreneur because I believe God created the world and us. A most beautiful creation. I’ve received so many business lessons from the Bible, which describes the entrepreneurship of God.
To All the Unsung Entrepreneurs
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
It’s not just business people who are entrepreneurs.
Artists, poets, writers, philosophers, musicians and scientists are also entrepreneurs. They use paint, words, thoughts, music, theory and experiments to create and express the beauty, joy, and wisdom of life and nature.
Bach’s music was for the church. He died relatively unknown until Felix Mendelssohn resurrected his work 70 years after Bach’s death. They later searched for Bach’s unmarked grave to give recognition to his great works.
Those who scale their works of creation are recognized as Entrepreneurs, but it’s the unsung heroes who have allowed the greats to stand on their shoulders to whom we should also pay homage for making a dent in the world.
I further describe entrepreneurs as those who have the courage to live their dreams.
This was my father and my mother who left Korea with the shirt on their backs. My father went from an almost non-existent elementary school education to the German mines and then to Ford in Canada. He then had the courage to set up his own grocery store and laundromats. My mom left Korea as a nurse to come to a new country to learn English and work as a nurse in a small town in Ontario Canada called Owen Sound.
I am especially impressed by entrepreneurs who bootstrap with little money, few resources, little education, and little time because they are typically working many other jobs. This requires ingenuity and persistence along with the 12 hallmarks of entrepreneurship.
Do You Have the Credentials of an Entrepreneur?
There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.
Seth Godin (1960-)
I had dreamed since 14 of becoming a medical doctor, so I took no liberal arts courses or any business courses in university. So when I started my side hustle in 1999, I often had the impostor syndrome. I just did what made sense. Offer a unique service that gave more than I asked for. It worked and then I expanded and raised the prices as I gave more value. And most of the other bootstrap entrepreneurs in the domain industry were just like me.
Who were the experts in domains?
It was us, who spent 16 hours a day, figuring out how to value a domain, register great domains, and make money from the domains. We built systems to automate as much as we could, because we were one-person operations. We were the visionary, the executer, the financier, the marketer, the salesperson, the administrator all-in-one. We wore all the hats of the business.
I would argue that being a bootstrap entrepreneur is the best business education in the world. You learn everything first hand. The lessons of entrepreneurship are inscribed into your soul.
We had no unfair advantage except a dream we sought.
Our failures are our battle scars and oh do we have so many.
Our successes are built on these piles of failures.
We learned to iterate and test our assumptions quickly before spending much money, time or resources.
But my Director pulled me aside and asked me to seriously consider going to the Advanced Management Program at Harvard.
My wife was pregnant. There was no way I could. Would this help me?
It wouldn’t hurt. And no one could look down on you.
It made sense. I asked my wife. She paused and considered the implications.
I would be in a Harvard dorm for two months. She would be 4 months pregnant, yet she gave her full support.
And the Winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year is…
The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.
Colin R. Davis (1927-2013)
I applied to Harvard’s Advance Management Program. They suggested that I apply to their Owner Management Program. My director Chris Hartnett gave them a call.
They accepted me. I was the youngest along with Gary at age 37.
I had applied to E & Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Technology. I was nominated as a finalist. I would have to fly from Boston back to Vancouver during my Harvard education and then fly back that night after the award ceremony for class.
We did 200 business case studies in two months. It was intense and I loved every minute of it. Harvard in the fall was beautiful. And then the subprime financial crisis I had predicted hit like a global hurricane in September.
We had the most interesting speakers. Founder of Vanguard, Meg Whitman CEO of eBay, Michael Dell, and the list went on. We did the case study and then we were able to directly ask the founders and executives questions. Wow.
At the awards ceremony, it was like a red carpet gala event. I met David Suzuki, a finalist as well. It was so cool to be amongst so many great entrepreneurs. I had three tables. Fellow teammates, beloved family. It felt like the Oscars for business. I had a strong intuition that I would win in my category.
And the winner of the E & Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Technology goes to…
Dr. Kevin Ham
Wow, it felt like I had won an Oscar. I was hugging everyone. My father, my wife, my family, my teammates. It took me a while to get to the podium.
The MC said I had only two minutes for my speech. Two minutes. How could I thank and express eight years of emotions.
I thanked God by acknowledging the two words that sit 555 feet hidden at the top of the Washington Monument: Laus Deo, which is Latin for Praise God, along with the good book, my guide, the Bible. I thanked with all of my heart my wife, my family, and my team.
It brings tears to my eyes as I think of all that my parents and family went through for me to get to that moment.
Blood, sweat and tears… of many generations. I am shedding these tears even as I write this.
Here’s to all the entrepreneurs, who dared to dream, who dared to start what seemed like an impossible dream and got up after every No, after every failure, after every false start. Here’s to you. I believe in you, your heart to dream and make that dream come true. Never, ever, give up. Until your last breath, dream and live.
My Life Questions:
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
George Eliot (1819-1880)
1. What is your life dream that you wish for?
Never forget the dreams in your heart. They are your life. Perhaps they lay buried deep in your heart. Mine those dreams out and make them shine. This world needs your light, your dreams. Disney showed you what is possible when you dream.
My Life Lessons Then (from my 29 year old self):
The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.
George Washington (1732-1799)
1. Everything you dream about is possible, if you have enough faith and courage to pursue your dream.
2. Starting and believing results in learning about the obstacles you need to navigate around.
These obstacles are there for you to grow stronger, to be more resilient so that you can be the person you need to become to fulfill your dream.
3. If you persist, someone or something will open the way.
A door will surely open for you. You will find the right door.
Howard Schultz had 222 No’s before someone said Yes to his Starbucks idea. Just lock into your destination GPS and the routes will go around the obstacles and find the path.
Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
1. Cherish these moments. The highs and the lows.
You have become resilient because you kept on the path and persisted. The lows have brought you high, The highs are heights where you can fall and are more dangerous than the valleys.
2. You made your father proud, I wish mom could have shared this moment.
She passed too early from gall bladder cancer in 2006.
3. You had more faith and courage in your dreams than I do now.
What happens as we grow older? Does fear of failure, self preservation, ego start to kick in or am I spreading myself too thin by focusing on too many dreams instead of just a few?
Focus. Dr. Azra Raza sat me down recently and asked me, “What do you really want?” Take two days in nature and really ponder this question. Be certain of your answer. Great advice.
Next week:
Fear VS Faith
To Lead or Not to Lead
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
See you next Thursday!
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