I’ve started to get to know Julie McManus, a business consultant I met while presenting to a group of entrepreneurs in Bellefontaine, Ohio. About a week after the event, Julie sends me this short email:
Nate, we met in Bellefontaine a few weeks ago. I am embarking on a
project and thought about you.I am looking to republish an author who wrote a number of self-help/
improvement/business books shortly after the depression (80 years
ago). His books are still relevant and timely. I read a couple of
books a week and would put them up at the top of my favorites.He has 5 or 6 books. I am looking to publish all or some…
I just received a copy of one of Vash Young’s writings today and am eager to dig in. Julie also emailed me this excerpt from his work, “Let’s Start Over Again.” It’s intriguing and caught my attention, to say the least:
“We had been spending too much and now we are spending too little. We had been over confident and now we are scared. When I began writing this chapter I went out to see a number of the sanest business men I know and to each one I put a question:
“What one thing is hindering recovery today more than any other thing?”
“That’s easy,” answered the first. “The public is scared stiff.”
Said the second, “people have lost faith in their own ability.” He interviewed a fourth and fifth and received much the same answers.
“All of the answers come to the same thing. Fear is now our handicap. Let’s think about that for awhile. Human needs can not pass away.
America is not going out of business. Every one of us has all of the ability, the ingenuity, the energy we had formerly, and more experience. Intellect has not suddenly curled up. Ambition, though somewhat quiet, is latent in every man, woman and child. Conditions are bad, yes. There is suffering, inconvenience, and unemployment. Millions who are innocent of having created this mess, are victims of it. But is there any reason under the sun why we should give up? Is there any reason why we should invite certain defeat instead of striving for probable victory?”
As I read this, I realized that it’s halfway through December, a time where business folks like you and I typically start to check out for the holidays. But not this year. Not this year at all.
In my close circle of friends, a good deal of whom are start-up entrepreneurs, just like me, I keep hearing one phrase ring out over and over again.
“This is crazy. I’ve never been this busy in December!” I tend to agree with Vash – America is not going out of business just yet.
What’s your take on Vash’s words? Is there hope? Are you still scared stiff? Do you still have faith in your own ability?
(Thank you, Julie!)
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