Try Something Foolish Today

Tags: Business, General,

When I tell people I started my business on April Fools’ Day, the reaction is always a slight smirk, followed by the question, “You’re kidding, right?” But I’m in very good company. The world’s largest information technology company — Apple — was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976. It takes a fool-with-attitude to choose that date and seriously expect to make a go of it.

Last I heard the Apple gamble turned out pretty well. And so, fortunately, did mine. Today our company is celebrating 35 years in business and we have the battle scars, accounts, friendships and confidence to prove it.

Just to put things in perspective, here’s a visual on what 35 years looks like:

Beyoncé

Serena Williams

Brittany Spears

Justin Timberlake

Josh Groban

All born in 1981. All incredibly accomplished. All with unique and often challenging career paths of their own. It’s pretty amazing to think we’ve been building our business since the day these future superstars first opened their billion dollar eyes.

Starting a business is hard but it was a “killer” year in ’81 in more ways than one.

On March 30th,while celebrating with co-workers at one of my many going-away parties, the fun came to a screeching halt when we heard that there had been an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

On May 13, Pope John Paul II was wounded in St. Peter’s Square at Vatican City, shot four times by Bulgarian assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca.

And on October 6, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic extremists during a military parade.

Add to that my grave suspicions that the mailman was purposely withholding my mail since I never seemed to get any checks and you get a sense of the bleak undercurrent.

But there were unicorns and rainbows to be found elsewhere that year:

The first flight of the space shuttle Columbia.

The introduction of artificial sweetener (Nutrasweet).

The first IBM PC (we were using the latest and greatest IBM Selectric Typewriters).

The nomination of Judge Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman on the Supreme Court.

The movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And then there was the Royal Wedding. I (manually) turned on my TV in the middle of the night to see Lady Diana Spencer marry Charles, The Prince of Wales. I have to admit that I was just a tad jealous, sitting there alone in a cotton bathrobe eating yogurt, watching the new Princess being whisked away in a glass carriage.

Little did we know how that Fairy Tale would end....

And that’s the point, isn’t it? We never know how things are going to turn out when we take risks, whether it’s marrying the future King of England or putting our talents and dreams to the test with a new venture.

I still believe you get out of things what you put into them and attitude is 90 percent of the play. Failure, disappointment and disillusionment will undoubtedly cross your path but that’s when fools-with-attitude are foolish enough to think they can keep going.

And they do.

Some for 35 years or more.

Anita Alvare (bio)/Alvare Associates/610-520-6140

April Fools’ Day