Follow on Facebook
Follow on TwitterI’ve recently been looking for a multi-tool and naturally I’ve ended up looking at both Leatherman and Gerber’s offerings. As the market leaders it’s hard to avoid them! Both appear to offer excellent products but so far it’s Leatherman that I’ve decided to buy.
However what caught my attention today was the corporate history of Gerber (you’ll find it here) in particular this bit caught my eye:
Joseph Gerber started Portland, Oregon’s Gerber Advertising back in 1910. One Christmas, he hired a local knifemaker to craft 25 sets of kitchen cutlery as client gifts. The knives were so popular, Mr. Gerber ultimately left his agency to launch Gerber Legendary Blades in 1939.
That’s quite a change in direction, from an advertising business to a knife company. It does however nicely illustrate the point I made in my post Don’t Start A Business where I argued that you should not start a business, but instead become an entrepreneur. The difference being that by starting a business you’ll become emotionally attached to it and may pursue it even when it’s clear it’s a bad idea, whereas by becoming an entrepreneur you will continually be looking for opportunities, assessing risks and looking for ways to maximise the opportunities that you come across. As an entrepreneur you’re emotionally invested in your success, or the success of your vision, not that of a business, which might not be the right business for you.
Joseph Gerber was clearly an entrepreneur, he spotted an opportunity and went for it, even though he’d already invested in building a different business. The result, Gerber is a highly respected worldwide brand that this year celebrated it’s 70th birthday. Impressively Gerber’s advertising business is still going and Gerber Legendary Blades has been credited with driving the growth of the Portland knife industry.
The lesson: be aware of opportunities and be prepared to pursue them when the present themselves, not matter how that might be.
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This blog is about business opportunities and ideas that I spot, think of or hear about and think are useful and interesting. It is intended to provide ideas and inspriation for you to help you find the right business idea for you to then grow it into a successful business.
I do like the point you made regarding not to be a businessman and stick around pursuing and idea as many of us think it’s the same as being consistent, whereas it’s not