Our friends Adam and Hesper spent the Thanksgiving holiday with family in Ohio. Not only did they celebrate Turkey Day, but they also exchanged Christmas gifts with the family. Thanks for sharing the photo, spreading the Snoloha lifestyle, and “welcome” to our newest friends in the Buckeye State.

Seth, a fellow StartupNation community member, has a great read regarding the “paralysis” of starting a business. It’s well worth the read, not just if you’re considering starting a business, but if you’re considering trying anything new and different.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I thought a great deal about that day before I started my own business this past May. People say when you start a business there are no guarantees. They are wrong.

If I didn’t start my own business I was GUARANTEED to never to have control over my life, my time and my financial abilities. I was GUARANTEED to always be at the mercy of others and their decisions. I was GUARANTEED to have limited growth in a company that wasn’t mine. And I was GUARANTEED to forever feel like a scared little chicken-shit loser who was afraid to take a punch.”

The full post is located here.

Thanks Seth!

Great leaders. Whether you are talking about Martin Luther King, Jr., FDR, Steve Jobs, or Michael Jordan, they all share similar qualities. I am by no means a history buff and I don’t claim to be an expert in leadership. Rather it seems to be common sense observations that you can learn from influential personas throughout history – be it reading about them, listening to them speak, or watching them on TV.

Strong businesses with productive and happy employees, positive morale, and an enjoyable work environment are the result of leadership.

Great leaders inspire. They are able to inspire because they are truly passionate about the cause, the product, the business, and the team. Passion can be contagious. Passion can make believers out of non-believers. Passion is a powerful leadership quality – it inspires.

Great leaders are forward thinking. They are not content with the status quo. They want to go to the edge. They want to invent the next great product, create social movements, and see the play happen before it actual does. Forward thinking allows them to be prepared. Chance favors the prepared mind.

Great leaders care. They care about their teammates, their employees, their constituents, and their students. They don’t forget about the ones who are working with them to achieve the end goal. The do not get so wrapped up and lost in the cause or the number of wins that they forget how they have gotten this far in the first place.

Great leaders educate. Their first reaction isn’t to fire the employee, flunk the student, or question a teammate’s efforts. They want to help. They want to see others succeed. They are not self-involved on some personal mission. They are on a mission to make those around them better people, whether they even realize it or not.

I think I will continue another day. I don’t want to get too long winded here. But it is a topic that I get very excited about and before I know it this post could end up way to long.
So for for now, to be continued…