We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This is a tough one, because at a time when I’m trying to raise investment capital, I can’t point to anything I’ve accomplished as a businessman because I’ve never been one. I can point to entrepreneurial accomplishments within companies and with non-profits, but clearly, this is different. Launching/running my own business is appealing to me, in part because of the missionary zeal I have about Real Joe. I’m out of my comfort range and that’s good, too — I’m curious and learning on the fly. But I shouldn’t be surprised that raising capital is a tall order, both because of the dotcom purge in B2C, and because of my lack of experience as a business owner.