William R. Seagraves - Be Your Best Boss: Reinvent Yourself from Employee to Entrepreneur

I always want to drive. Everyone else is welcome to be my passenger.

Even if its just for a jaunt across town with a client or business colleague, Im the one who whips out my car keys before anyone else can. Its always been that way. Ever since I got my drivers license, Ive found a way to be the driver whenever I can. Group going to a party? I happily designate myself the sober chauffeur. Family trip and my wife offers to drive? I insist that she relax and enjoy the sights.

Even considering the hundreds of microdecisions and the risk and responsibility inherent in driving, I prefer it over being a passive passenger. Until I began writing this book, I didnt realize how much this preference carries over to my business personality.

When I used to work for other people, I was at the whim of their decisions. Even if I saw a potentially better road to take, I couldnt go there unless my boss condoned it. My employers hands were on the wheel, not mine.

I liked corporate life in many ways, but I could not stand this lack of control. So in 1995 I stopped being someones employee and became an entrepreneur, which I remain to this day.

My need to be in the drivers seat extends to money. I could not tolerate the fact that the hard-earned funds in my 401(k) were at the mercy of a volatile market. Late in 2003, during the downturn that followed the dot-com bust and the events of September 11, my wife and I began investigating nontraditional ways to invest our retirement funds. (Wall Street options were not cutting it, to say the least!)

Through readings and discussions with advisors, we learned that it was possible to invest retirement funds in your own businesswithout having to get in debt, without tax penaltiesusing a self-directed 401(k), or rollover as business start-up, as the government calls it. I only wish I had known that eight years earlier, when I bought my first business with a seller loan!

One evening at dinner, my wife and I noted how few people in our respective business circles, our community, and among our friends and family had even heard of the self-directed 401(k). We felt lucky to have stumbled across the information, but it got us thinking, What if we made it our business to teach other entrepreneurs about this funding option?

So thats what we did. Eventually, CatchFire Funding was born. Since then, weve helped thousands of Americans who have been downsized out of a job, are afraid of being let go, or pine for the freedom of entrepreneurship for a variety of other reasons.

I know what it feels like to want that freedom and at the same time to be afraid of the unknowns involved in the leap from employee to entrepreneur.

My record hasnt been flawless. I sold one business because it ended up being the wrong long-term fit for my skills and interests. In another instance, I broke up (badly) with a business partner. And a third company stayed too long in my living room with a growing staff.

But I learned from all my experiences, and I was good at getting the best business advice I could afford, at striking out boldly, and at following throughall the ingredients for long-term, profitable entrepreneurship.

In the pages of this book, youll meet dozens of new entrepreneurs from across Americaformer corporate warriors, public servants, or other employees who have now bought or built businesses of their own.