When it's in your blood, it's in your blood. . . . entrepreneurism, that is. 

I have had a few jobs throughout my half century on this beautiful earth, but nothing has been more rewarding and challenging then being the master of my own little universe.  Of course, being the master of my own little universe allows me to acknowledge that there is a greater Master that we all serve as no man (woman)  is an island and no man (woman) stands alone.  We all rely on each other to succeed in one way or the other.

Holding a traditional job can be very rewarding as well, but the challenges presented as an entrepreneur are much more extreme in many ways.  The buck stops here.  Your business lives or dies depending on what effort you take to make it survive.  Sometimes external circumstances make it almost impossible to go on.  Other times, you and your business may soar like an eagle and the world is in the palm of your hand.

Everyday is a learning experience.  Some days you want to bury your head in the sand and decide not to go on.  There are other days where nothing can seem to go wrong.  You spend most of your life building a core business and then you discover that even though the core business is a good idea, unless you expand beyond that, you have put all of your eggs in one basket.  You either find ways to expand your core business market or you take a different direction and put different colored eggs in your basket.

That's what I did at Dunn Associates.  Dunn Associates was birthed in 1986 out of circumstance and necessity.  It was a business decision, not a heart decision or a yearning desire to take on the stresses of running my own business.  It was what it was and its core business still plays a major role in my life today.  My first egg was and is executive recruiting, but the focus was and is still on retained recruiting with the belief that what we have to offer as headhunters is a valuable service and worth being paid for.  There are many facets of executive recruiting that can be helpful to  both the employer and the job seeker.  It was and remains the jumbo sized egg in the basket. 

When hard times hit in the search business as it has it's ups and downs, and it begins to rain, you open the umbrella to keep the rain out.  You realize that the umbrella is protecting you from becoming thoroughly drenched.  It keeps you dry and focused so you can continue on. 

While under the umbrella, sometimes the entrepreneurial spirit begins to kick in.  New ideas can be generated.  New interests come to life.  New circumstances and events may come about to create a new passion.  It isn't going to rain forever. Perhaps even a little boredom or restlessness creates a new desire to fill the basket.  The need for independence and time freedom can create a desire to search above and beyond who we are and what we do.  As the rain beats down, the ideas surge.  You decide not to close the umbrella until the new ideas are tested and proven. . . not until you have new colored eggs in your basket.  Only then do you close the umbrella.  The umbrella still stands in the corner, ready to protect you should your new eggs crack and it start to rain again.  You just go to the corner, pick it up and open it and the cycle for an entrepreneur starts all over again.

The new eggs at Dunn Associates became the travel business and the baby Ebay business.  These are two additional businesses now under the umbrella.  Yes, there is time for it all and the businesses are diverse enough to make life very interesting.  The businesses challenge the soul and turn boring into blessing. 

There is time in life for many eggs.  Those eggs can be nurtured and cared for until the eggs start to hatch and the fruit of your labors pay off.  The new hatchlings can continue to be nurtured until they grow to maturity.  Then in the true entrepreneurial spirit, they can be set aside as the search for new eggs begins. 

Our umbrella is closed now.  The businesses are established and growing for now.  When the rains come, and they will, the umbrella is waiting for us in the corner.  Who knows what new ideas will be birthed should we ever have to use the umbrella again.