{"id":3205,"date":"2016-06-06T05:24:24","date_gmt":"2016-06-06T12:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/evergreensmallbusiness.com\/?p=3205"},"modified":"2016-09-13T15:51:29","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T22:51:29","slug":"george-washingtons-business-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evergreensmallbusiness.com\/george-washingtons-business-secrets\/","title":{"rendered":"George Washington\u2019s Business Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"George<\/a>We probably all expect to get the truly great business insights from some Harvard or Stanford business school professor who has just completed a\u00a0clever bit of research. Or at least that’s what I tend to think.<\/p>\n

But you know what? It sort of seems like we can often get wonderful insights from history, too. Which brings up George Washington and his entrepreneuring, so let me explain.<\/p>\n

I visited Mount Vernon last month. And to prepare for the trip, I read Edward G. Lengel\u2019s recent book, \u201cFirst Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His\u2014and the Nation\u2019s\u2014Prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Quick Book Review of First Entrepreneur<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re an entrepreneur or small business owner, you will find Lengel\u2019s book really\u00a0interesting and very\u00a0educational.<\/p>\n

Here’s why: The business history of George Washington provides tons of useful entrepreneurial tactics and tricks for people today. You might even call them secrets hidden in plain sight.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, while I\u2019m still riding a wave of Revolutionary War nostalgia, let me share what seemed to me to be three super powerful insights Washington displayed.<\/p>\n

Systemic Risks Matter<\/h2>\n

A first thing that jumps out from Washington\u2019s approach to entrepreneurship?<\/p>\n

His sensitivity to the systemic risks his ventures encountered in the rough-and-tumble and downright-dangerous economy and society of Colonial America.<\/p>\n

If you ponder this alertness to systemic risk a bit, you have to wonder if one of the reasons Washington was so successful–he was probably one of the hundred richest men in early America–was simply that he avoided catastrophic failure.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something to think about a bit\u2026<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s business climate included at least two giant systemic risks. The first obvious risk was that his new country entered into a military conflict with a super-power, Great Britain.<\/p>\n

But that wasn’t the only systemic risk. Another was that the Colonial America financial and banking system was a total, hyperinflationary mess.<\/p>\n

Washington attempted to mitigate these dangers as best he could apparently. Lengel points in his book for example, that one of the very practical things Washington did was intentionally over-allocate investment in raw land to hedge his inflation risk.<\/p>\n

Continual Learning Provides Continual Advantage<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s another thing that jumps out when you learn about Washington\u2019s entrepreneurship: His continual, organized, energetic learning about the industries he operated in.<\/p>\n

Washington, though he lacked much formal education, made\u00a0continual business learning a giant priority. (Most of his ventures connected to agriculture, so he was often learning about cutting-edge agricultural practices or new farming inventions.)<\/p>\n

Washington regularly ran his own agricultural research programs at Mount Vernon to develop his own best practices.<\/p>\n

And then Washington not only read all the latest books about the industries in which he operated\u2014remember that this was an era when books weren\u2019t easy to come by–he reached out to and developed relationships with the expert authors.<\/p>\n

Some these experts, he actually \u201cimported\u201d from Great Britain, which was basically the repository of agricultural “high” technology in his\u00a0day.<\/p>\n

And just to make this point: It wasn\u2019t as if Washington didn\u2019t have other balls in the air. I have a few dozen corporate tax returns to do some month and, gosh, I have trouble scheduling a haircut.<\/p>\n

Washington? Hey, he ran a series of business ventures, conducted a war, all while helping found a new country. If he had time for continual learning, I probably do too.<\/p>\n

Abundance Mentality Right Big Picture Model<\/h2>\n

I don\u2019t want to tell you too much more the stuff in Lengel\u2019s book. You\u2019ll have more fun reading the book yourself. What\u2019s more, you\u2019ll surely\u00a0spot insights I missed.<\/p>\n

But let me share one quick final insight I think I see: Washington operated from a mentality of abundance and not scarcity. He appeared to see the giant wonderful opportunities in America\u2019s future if he and other Americans did the practical stuff.<\/p>\n

That mentality of abundance seemed to have been another factor that let him spot new ventures hidden in all the change and tumult. Maybe this is the biggest take-away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We probably all expect to get the truly great business insights from some Harvard or Stanford business school professor who has just completed a\u00a0clever bit of research. Or at least that’s what I tend to think. But you know what? It sort of seems like we can often get wonderful insights from history, too. Which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,5,10,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-management","8":"category-new-business","9":"category-personal-finance","10":"category-strategy","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nGeorge Washington's Business Secrets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/evergreensmallbusiness.com\/george-washingtons-business-secrets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"George Washington\u2019s Business Secrets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We probably all expect to get the truly great business insights from some Harvard or Stanford business school professor who has just completed a\u00a0clever bit of research. 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