Carolyn Jack

Editor and CEO, Geniocity.com
A project of The Genius Group LLC

Creative Nerve: What It’s Really Like to Start a Business

I doubt I could have become an entrepreneur anyplace but Cleveland.

Not that starting a business isn’t much the same the world over – probably everyone everywhere faces similar hurdles in selling an idea, raising funds, containing costs, developing a market and staying ahead of the competition, no matter how large or small the scale of operation or how little or much the government exerts control. 

No, the reason I think Cleveland was the one place for me to try this has much more to do with my own history and the personality of the city itself.

I’ve moved around a lot in my life – had lived in six different towns in four states by the time I was 15, and after I went to college, made another six major moves before landing in Cleveland. Once I got here, several key factors converged.

One was that I’ve ended up staying far longer than I’ve ever lived anywhere else: After 16 years here, I feel as if I truly have roots in a community. A second was that Cleveland turned out to be made up of the most welcoming and caring people I’ve ever encountered, among whom I’m lucky to have found many friends. And the third – every bit as important as the other two – was that I happened to be living in Cleveland at the time in my life when I became psychologically ready for this kind of challenge.

If any one of those elements had been missing, I’m pretty certain I would never have taken this huge and strangely necessary step. For sure, I would not have gotten this far with my big idea without knowing a lot of people here, people familiar enough with me and my work to believe I’m not a total kook and kind enough to offer me some guidance.  

For extra sure, I would never have so completely revolutionized my career without having reached the exact moment – in age, experience, ambition, frustration and altered duties as the parent of adolescents instead of toddlers - when revolution seemed both crucial and possible.

Other entrepreneurs may have different specific reasons for taking such a risk, but I’d be surprised if most of them didn’t have convergences of their own that suddenly opened a path where none had been before. And I’ll bet that when most of them saw that path appear, they didn’t even have to think about whether or not to follow it.