We all know that a substantial percentage of small businesses fail.<\/p>\n
What if I fail?<\/em><\/p>\n Like many people, I’ve been fascinated in the turning to look at a wreck on the freeway sort of way by the blog “My startup has 30 days to live.”<\/a><\/p>\n It’s very sad and sometimes as I read it I think of the best lesson my late father-in-law left us. When he passed away, the only thing The Invisible Developer asked of his mother is if he could have the sign that was in the garage. Forty years or so ago, my father-in-law started a business,\u00a0 a TV and radio repair shop. Eventually, televisions and radios became cheaper and more people decided to just toss the thing and buy a new one. That was the end of De Mars TV & Radio repair.<\/p>\n What happened\u00a0 to my father-in-law, the “failed” small businessman? He went on to work for a large company, the same company that sponsored a National Merit Scholarship that sent The Invisible Developer to UCLA to pick up degrees in math and physics, free of charge. He went on to buy a house in the suburbs, raise four children, stay married to his wife over fifty years until death did them part.<\/p>\n You know those families you see on 1950s sit coms? THEY ACTUALLY EXIST! I really think Leave it to Beaver was filmed in my in-laws’ living room.<\/p>\n What did his family\u00a0 think about his failed endeavor? The first time she saw the sign, The Spoiled One exclaimed,<\/p>\n “Wow! Grandpa started his own business when he was young? That’s cool. I never knew that.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"repair](\"http:\/\/www.thejuliagroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/shopsign1.jpg\")
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