Jennifer B. Davis
I recently read Christine Comaford-Lynch's "Rules for Renegades." Christine sound like quite a character. One of those high-energy, mile-a-minute folks who is constantly pushing into new areas. Intermixed with stories of dating Bill Gates and Larry Ellison, she had some interesting stories and advice.

She told one story about how she was a contractor at Microsoft, when they decided to convert a bunch of contractors to employees to avoid IRS trouble. In a big meeting, she did a back-of-the-envelope calculation of how much the recommended temp agency was going to make if all the contractors went that route. On an impulse, she stands up and announces that people could contract with her new agency. She had no temp agency. She had no company. She didn't have a business plan. She didn't have any idea how she was going to fund her first payroll. She did, however, have a customer (one she sort of backed into a corner to hire her) and several clients in short order. From there, she figured it out.
I thought this story was funny because it illustrates how easy it is to overthink business plans and not take any actual action that relates to getting customers. Let Christine's boldness be an example of what can be accomplished by running when you see open space!
As Christine summarized in her "Rock Rejection Mantra":
Some will.
Some won't.
So what?
Someone's waiting.
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