Blog: Fresh Tilled Ideas

Land of opportunity

Posted On: July 16th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

Today is my first day as a bona fide US citizen. The oath ceremony was this morning and apart from being punctuated with crying babies and long wait times it was a moving experience. During the ceremony the official overseeing the event told the story of many immigrants that have come to the US and created great businesses along their way. He remined us that this is probably the only country in the world that allows an immigrant to rise to any position except President (and Vice President). I'm sure there are some that would disagree but there really is a lot of great opportunities in the US. The only really big obstacle to success is hard work and sticking to your dreams. As mushy as that sounds I think it's true. We've always hired people for their work ethics not for their specific skills. Knowledge and skills can be taught but it's very difficult to nuture a powerful responsible work ethic in adults.

When I came to the US eight years ago I had a small amount in savings and absolutley no connections. Since then I have created three startups that have collectively employed dozens of people and generated millions of dollars in revenue. With one or two exceptions there are very few places in the world where you can arrive empty handed, start a new business and create millions in revenues in just a few short years. We have also invested in several of our clients businesses, one of which is Bobby's Best, and have recently launched a new business called Fresh Services (which is operating as Best Student Help this summer). Investing and growing businesses in the US is much easier than anywhere else. I wonder how many entrepreneurs here know how luck they are?

What a great place to be an entrepreneur.

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