According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary an entrepreneur is someone who organizes, manages and assumes the risk of a business and enterprise.

I come from a long line of entrepreneurs.  My great-grandparents and great-ucles on my father’s side, like many other immigrants, came to Puerto Rico from Spain during the beginning of the twentieth century in search of a better life and created fairly successful businesses to provide for their families comfortable housing, social, intellectual and cultural growth. Coincidentally, those businesses were related to agriculture, real estate and food distribution. Further along, my grandparents also became entrepreneurs, one having a toy store in Old San Juan and the other one offering business related management services to successful businessmen in the south of the island.  Both, Bartolo and Aníbal, put all of their children through college and saw them become productive professionals in our society.  However, the only business entrepreneur from that generation is my father.  All of my aunts and uncles are prominent doctors, bankers and/or lawyers, which is not bad at all! (Note:  keep in mind there are entrepreneurial leaders in every trade with or without formal education.)

My grandmother always said my father was born with an entrepreneurial spirit and a gift for negotiating and establishing new and lasting friendships everywhere he went, living proof that to be a successful entrepreneur your EQ (emotional quotient) is more important than your IQ (ingelligence quotient).  After college, he had a brief stint in law school, but soon discovered it wasn’t his thing and changed schools to do his MBA, graduating magna cum laude.  Already married to my mother, his professional career started as a salesman and in time, evolved into creating his own business as an independent food broker, food manufacturer and real estate investor before the age of 35!  Easier said that done!  A self-made man, all of his success was due to smart life choices, a supportive spouse, working long hours, making calculated risks, following intuition, discipline, networking, perseverance, charisma, establishing credibility and taking advantage of opportunities where others saw obstacles.

I like to think I inherited some of that entrepreneurial spark to create, negotiate, transform, lead, innovate and succeed.  My senses are not propelled by old-fashioned greed or mere financial gain to live an affluent lifestyle, but besides having economic security and providing for my family (I now work for my father and my husband is a business entrepreneur ), I wish to comply with a socially responsible role in helping people in need in our community.  One of the many virtues I admire from my parents is how, as a couple, they have managed to constantly search for that balance between duty and desire; citizenship and family life; partnership and individualism; financial success and philanthropy.   In many family gatherings, I’ve often heard my grandparents, parents or aunts/uncles recount some crazy idea of mine as a young girl which involved selling or making something to sell. Those of you who know me personally (doesn’t matter at which stage in my life) can attest of random new ideas I wanted to execute or have bought something from me. Nonetheless, sometimes life situations get in the way and delay some dreams or ideas (especially for women), but that innate entrepreneurial passion cannot be extinguished if you want to ever accomplish your deepest desires. In this world full of diversity and adversity, entrepreneurs, good or bad, act as social catalysts in their communities. I have also met homemakers that turn into great entrepreneurs.  I happen to believe that in the entrepreneurial world there are no good or bad ideas, its just who dares to take a leap of faith and execute them. Entrepreneurship is not measured by the amount of money you make, but by taking the road less travelled and reaching your goals.  Not an easy task since all the stars have to line up. Meanwhile, many of us remain vigilant until our chance to make a difference comes along… At this point in my life,  juggling between personal life, family and work, I admit I gotta keep working on my organizational skills, discipline and time management!!!

So far, I see my daughter as a blossoming entrepreneur.  Among other things, she has been begging me since the beginning of summer to do a bake sale and lemonade stand in our neighborhood.  She wrote sort of a business plan and started to weave pot holders to sell, drew a sign and established sale prices.  Perseverance, organization and enthusiasm are her most notable virtues. Sometimes, as we become older, we loose touch with that inner child which holds the key to our most treasured hopes and dreams as individuals.  That’s why I refuse to let my children’s dreams be dampened or unheard because I am blinded with my own grown-up reality.

Last Tuesday, on a hot and humid afternoon,  I finally put all my “important things to do list” to the side, and helped her in her endeavor (she is seven, come on!) and I am happy to report it was a great success!  She recruited her cousins and older brother to help by coloring the sign, picking lemons from our lemon tree, making lemonade, decorating (and eating) cupcakes, even name tags and price tags, all under her watchful eye. Everything sold in less than an hour.  I wish you could have seen the sense of accomplishment in their little faces.  They made $31 dollars which was split evenly among the three eldest and gave one dollar tip and two free cupcakes to the 2 year old helper.  Ja, ja!!! It is the most fun I’ve had all summer!

Here I share with you the recipe for the Vanilla Buttercream Icing we used on the delicious Cupcakes sold.

Twelve Quotes every entrepreneur should know:

1.  “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  Mahatma Gandhi

2.  “Wether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”  Henry Ford

3.  “Watch listen and learn.  You can’t know it all yourself.  Anyone who thinks they do is destined for mediocrity.”  Donald Trump

4.  “The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.”  Thomas Babington Macaulay

5.  “Anything the mind can conceive and believe,  it can achieve.”  Napoleon Hill

6.  ”  Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.”  Stephen R. Covey

7.  “Insanity:  Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Albert Einstein

8.  “Make each day your masterpiece.”  John Wooden

9.  “Choose a job you like and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Confucius

10.  ”  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeeded.”  Michael Jordan

11.  “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”  Benjamin Franklin

12.  ”  Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune.”  Jim Rohn

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

1 stick of unsalted butter, soft, at room temperature

3 1/2 cups powder sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk

food coloring (optional)

Procedure

1.  Place butter, 2 cups of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in bowl of an electric mixer and mix med speed until fluffy and well combined.  Add  rest of powder sugar.  If desired add food coloring at the end.  Makes enough icing to frost 24 cupcakes.

2.  Place in a piping bag or large zip lock to frost Cupcakes or favorite cake.  Store icing in airtight container in the fridge for one week.