Sure, my ex father in law: he built and ran a private theatre in the middle of the mountains at the Polish-German borders. We’re talking: a deep dark forest, small village, relatively impoverished area, shortly after the economic transformation post 1989.
He built the place in the ruins of a falling apart 16th century barn, had to support his initial work with clown shows, manual labor, then scaled it to the point where the place was regularly frequented by world class jazz performers.
He trained actors, provided work to people in the area. But he never scaled the business to the point where he’d have to compromise his work or relationships with people/fans.
We all play the cards we’re given and he managed to do it so much better than the brain parasites we tend to worship here.
Build a sustainable business that is a net positive contribution to the society, focus on value above growth, and stay true to your beliefs. Then keep it going for three decades. That’s entrepreneurship.
Bear in mind that although he’s a writer/playwright, I’d say that 3/4 of his work was managing the business like any other, juggling marketing, sales, admin.
(Apologies for any typos, writing this from my phone while in a rush)
PS IIRC in its peak the little village had more theatres per capita than Broadway (3 theatres!)
that's really cool, your definition of a great entrepreneur is a bit outside the common parlance but yeah I'd definitely agree that your father in law is a successful entrepreneur
Sustainable profitable businesses that make a healthy profit and give back to their communities are the lifeblood of economies
