First let me start off by saying that I am going to be very candid here, likely at the expense of some friends and business associates, but mostly about my own foibles in the shadows of digital entrepreneurialism.
The world of entrepreneurialism is an attractive one to some people for the following reasons: 1)We are Ego-Centric 2)We have minor (or major) issues with authority 3) We are Patriotic* 4)We all believe we can be extravagantly wealthy if just _____.
Sound about right? Well the * needs a little detail. By patriotic I mean just that, but not to political parties, bogus flag-waving false prophets or Big Business, but to the IDEALS of our nations’ founders: Liberty, Justice, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
A true entrepreneur values one or more of the above over all else. Be it the liberty to make our own schedules, decisions, business directions, or to have our own voice and the right to use it as we see fit... the “freedom to be me” (and make some scratch while doing it). Justice to make sure there is a equal shot to get a piece of the American Pie; to have fair lending practices, competitive marketplaces, responsible governance and regulation, and all of the other sometimes fictional concepts that drive idealists to become capitalists. Finally, the Pursuit of Happiness. Happiness is the end of the proverbial rainbow, whether its comfort to live and travel, wealth to accumulate (although this RARELY brings happiness), the means to support a family, or the legacy a small business can become in a family’s history.
With that base philosophy, and with the personality traits I indicated before: Ego-Centrism, anti-authoritarianism, patriotism, and wealth-envy, it is not hard to see why this world attracts a lot of Shady Characters.
This blog post has been stewing for a few weeks, ever since I had coffee with a friend and fellow digital maven, Hana Kamm from www.shesnext.com. While we were discussing some potential integrations, the topic strayed, and turned to sharing bad experiences and the mistakes we had both made along the way... often due to Shady Characters.
The first type of Shady Character is a derivation of the Ego-Centrist, that we’ll call the Prince. It is almost universally true that the type of person that strays from the pack and goes out to find their own path is going to be a touch narcissistic... you almost have to be to want a life where there is certainly as much rough terrain as comfortable. So while some of us see ourselves as being a “solution provider”, others see themselves as being a bit more Machiavellian. For those that forgot the actual text that reference is based on, the book the Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli, postulates that “the ends of princes, such as glory... justify the use of immoral means to reach those ends” (Strauss, 1958). While business is battle, and the competition will often eat you as a sacrifice to their own demons, at least philosophically it does not need to be that way.
The Prince sure thinks so. The Prince will attach himself to any project he sees as making his purse strings stretch, regardless of his ability to complete it. The Prince will whisper in your ear, soothsaying you into engaging, and then leaving you after harvest to conquer the next town. The Prince has no interest in the fruits of well-toiled labor; he has no interest in cultivating your ideas, he wants none of the struggle to cultivate, to irrigate, to grow. He wants your sweat. Mostly though, he wants your cabbage. Oh, and he wants everyone to know he’s the Prince, and thats why it should be this way.
The second type of Shady Character takes the “chip” on the shoulder most of us SMB-owners (Small and Medium Business) have, and replaced it with a manhole cover. The Grudge takes the anti-authoritarian trait to an unhealthy, and often destructive, extreme. Business is not friendly. It can appear so; it can be congenial, it can be fun, it can be mutually beneficial or mutually harmful. It can be a good time, which is why so many of us do it, but it is not friendly. But a Grudge thinks its miserable, hateful, carnivorous. The Grudge likely has been wronged, either in the SMB world or in a former career-interrupted. I actually have been a bit of a Grudge before for the latter reason, but have had great mentors to help me get over myself. Most Grudges don’t, or won’t, get talked off their high-horse though, and we meet them frequently... and they make doing business even more difficult.
The third Shadeball is the “false-Patriot”. This is where I might get in trouble a little. I will confess I am a pretty socially-liberal person, with conservative fiscal ideals. I am not a Dem or a Rep, but I am an active supporter of certain prominent politicos and a progressive agenda (i.e. the POTUS). However, I sure as heck-fire do not try an bring my personal agenda into business though, while I DO try and bring my ideals. The false-Patriot DOES bring their agenda, and sure seems to be lacking in the ideals category. Look at the Great Recession: Wall Street RAPED and PILLAGED Main Street like some ancient Nordic raiders on a virginal Celtic farmgirl. The C-levels that committed egregious, nee’ criminal, acts went unpunished. DICK FULD should be in jail. Not white collar jail.... but cry yourself to another place jail. If crime was punished by impact, we would have to bring back some of the Inquisition’s finer instruments.
To my point (and off my high-horse), these false-Patriots hold that they can act so horribly destructively because “its America” and everyone can F everyone else. In big business the resulting impact can be devastating on a global scale, but to a small business owner, it can be eradicating on a universal scale.
Whether its media/advertising sales people wasting money with poorly planned campaigns based on manipulated data, or developer/webmaster sorts that crush budgets with their fee structures, or the type of financiers that are REALLY hoping you go in arrears so they can get your stake, the false-Patriot type can be the most dangerous Shady Character in the digital alley.
The final Shady is the Slim Shady. They REALLLLLLLY want to get rich. They will BE rich. They will make YOU rich too!
Unfortunately... chances are they will NOT make you rich, but they WILL make you poorer. Be it in time-wasted, actual loss of income, or wasted expense, the Slim Shady will more likely hurt you than help you. And lets see... Buzz can count on his stripes how many times he’s been led down this alley.
So hopefully this dispatch reaches you before you’re neck deep in Shady Characters... but if you do find yourself in dark place and someone else seems to be leading you, TURN ON THE LIGHTS! You might find a skinny Prince with a terrible disposition sticking you up with a Red White and Blue painted Smith&Wesson.
Till next time,
Buzz Titan, The Giant Detective
(a/k/a Rory Foster)
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