Douglas Hickok

Doug Hickok built a transmitter and started his own radio station at the age of 14, and he hired a high school classmate to work for him as an announcer. That was the beginning of his life as an entrepreneur.

Doug’s first and only deviation from entrepreneurship was a six-year stint as an award-winning radio and TV news reporter and news director. He ended his broadcasting career because his next step would have been to move up as a newsman in a big city—a move to the corporate level of broadcasting.

Since that time, Doug has been self-employed.

He owned a photography studio, and he wrote. Doug wrote articles and columns for publication, and he eventually took over a bi-weekly magazine in Austin, Texas where he had a staff of writers but still kept up with his own writing.

He knew he had a book in him, but he couldn’t find it and write it for a long time.

Later, Doug trained in psychology, and spent over a decade working with couples and groups in Santa Fe, New Mexico as a private-practice teacher about romantic relationships.

Santa Fe is where he met his wife Betsy—that’s Betsy in the center photo with Doug. And, that cowboy hat he’s wearing in another photo is real—he and Betsy had a horse property on the edge of the national forest on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Yes, you really do need a cowboy hat and cowboy boots to work and ride in that environment.

Betsy and Doug moved east, and Doug moved into executive coaching and consulting for business leaders in 2001.

And finally, two years ago, Doug’s first book swam up into his brain so he could write it down. “How to Succeed with Your Great Business Idea” is a book for that time when you get a great business idea and the next thought is, "What do I do now?" This is the "what you do now" answer to that question.

Today, Doug Hickok is the President of a consulting company for entrepreneurs, and he and Betsy live in Annapolis, Maryland.

He says his life as an entrepreneur is very good, and he wouldn’t trade it for anything.