The Resilient Entrepreneur: The Methods and Mindset to Help You Succeed on Your Entrepreneurial Journey

What factors help a burgeoning entrepreneur move forward and persevere through the hardships of the startup phase? Why do some entrepreneurs get stuck in the idea stage, while others are able to successfully implement their idea and grow their business? Why do serial entrepreneurs continue to start new businesses even after experiencing one failure after another? What helps existing small business owners weather the storms and bounce back from setbacks? These are some of the questions we explore in the Resilient Entrepreneur.

Resiliency, like entrepreneurship, is a learnable process. It is comprised of three main phases:

1. The adverse experience and absorption of its resulting effects
2. A period of rehabilitation and regeneration
3. Reflection on the meaning of the adversity and lessons learned

Looking at how people navigate these phases, we explore frameworks for better understanding entrepreneurial resilience in terms of emotional, cognitive, and social resources we need to persevere. The practical tools and methods outlined in this book equip new entrepreneurs with the knowledge and confidence they need to take the bold leap of becoming an entrepreneur.

Lance is a small business coach and teacher with the City of Austin's Small Business Program. In this role, he helps develop entrepreneurship curricula and designs innovative and effective economic development programs. Over the past decade, he's coached and/or taught thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners. He's worked with entrepreneurs of all ages, from middle school students to retirees. Through one-on-one coaching alone, he's logged more than 3,000 hours of consultation with businesses spanning just about every industry you can imagine. He's coached and taught amazingly talented people from across the globe, from Namibia to Russia, Chile to the United Arab Emirates. He's listened to and walked alongside entrepreneurs as they've faced a variety of challenges along their journey. Lance was born and raised in Austin, Texas. After graduating from Texas State with a MBA, he joined the Peace Corps and worked as a small business adviser in Namibia where he taught entrepreneurship at a rural secondary school and consulted small businesses in the community. After coming back to the U.S, he attended the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin and was selected as a Curtis Meadows Jr. Social Enterprise Fellow by the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service. Bridging the disciplines of business and economic development policy, he seeks to help foster greater economic mobility, resilience and sustainability.