Breakfast with John Goodman

John Goodman came to speak to our class today and it was quite the experience. From the moment she started talking I could tell she had a wealth of knowledge to share. As she spoke, her eyes reflected her personality as clearly as if it were written in front of us. Ms. Goodman could go from a caring, nurturing look, to a look of cold hard strength seamlessly multiple times per minute. It was clear that she is very passionate about what she was talking about, and that she was well versed in the virtues and difficulties that lie in front of the budding entrepreneur.

She said so much that it's difficult to really focus on a specific part. She did mention many strong points that she called "Goodmanisms" that I want to reflect on. This is, of course, only a taste of what she had to say.

Goodmanisms:

1. "Brilliant ideas are a dime a dozen. People who can implement them are as scarce as hens teeth."

- This was about how easy it is to come up with a great idea, yet finding someone who can make it happen in a way that achieves the goal is hard to do.

2. "Money is just a way to keep score."

- This is very poignant to me. She said it in regards to people who start businesses to make money with no regard for passion. I agree with it entirely. Yes, money is important. However, more important is finding something you are passionate about to make the money. If money is just the way to keep score, you can focus your efforts on far more important things.

3. "There's a new bus every five minutes"

- This is a good one too. She brought it up when discussing how to pick people for your board of directors. What it means is that if someone doesn't feel right, feel free to move on. There are plenty of people out there are you're bound to find one that fits your strategy better.

4. "If you don't learn to tolerate stress and ambiguity, don't be an entrepreneur."

- I like this quote because it kind of exemplifies one of her major points. Being an entrepreneur is an enormous amount of work and if you aren't ready for stress you should pick a different profession.

Overall I took away multiple large points. The first is that you should not get into this business if you are only here for money. The second is that it is extremely important to surround yourself with a variety of intelligent people to help you keep your head on straight. The last is that making a business plan should be a very big process. You need to make sure you have every angle figured out when you start pitching it. This includes market research.

All in all it was an amazing experience.

-noodles