Being a Newbie Entrepreneur and Extremely Vulnerable

A Newbie Entrepreneur...

Brent and I will have been married for 10 years in the fall. When I met him, he knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur. It seems like he was born with the tenacity and courage to be an entrepreneur. While in college, he designed a simple product for snowboarders. In 7 years his one product has expanded into the third largest snowboard accessory company in the world (www.demonsnowboarding.com) But me, I never thought I would be an entrepreneur. My personality drew me to areas with little risk. I taught school. (Actually there is some risk involved here, I taught Junior High, and that is definitely risky!) Over the years Brent always was asking me what my big idea was. How was I going to change the world? What bothered me and how was I going to fix it. Year after year I told him, you are the one with the ideas, not me.

However, there have always been lots of things that bothered me. And out of one of those came the idea of cap trappers. I was actually soaking in the tub, a rare occurrence, I had the stomach flu. So during the moaning and miserableness it came to me. With my husbands encouragement I decided to go for it, and make my idea a reality. And I happened to have a personal influx of money just at this time. I was attacked by a dog while running and got a generous insurance settlement. I definitely don't recommend this funding method to anyone! Equipped with my personal money I went forward.

Vulnerability...


What I didn't realize was the vulnerability I would feel as an entrepreneur. Here I have an idea that I am passionate about and I really feel like if others are educated about, they will love too. But each time I pitch the idea, make phone calls etc it is like a little piece of me is exposed, awkwardly available for others to accept reject or ridicule. But I am getting more confident, and actually this whole entrepreneur thing is growing on me and I love it, basically because I love the idea! So I find myself in a great position, I think poised for great things. Who wouldn't feel excited, when you have a kid this cute, with such unbelievable hair, and a product as great as Cap Trappers!

Rebecca