process. i had to distinguish between defeat and failure between emotions and passion, in between who i am and what i did. through that process, i brought phil the fire back stronger and better and do things right when i take a bite at the apple. this idea of distinguishing about emotions and passions. that s the only way to learn, right? your book, what if and why not tells people to go after it. knowing when the timing is right and the circumstances are examples right now. sometimes the timing is not right. you have to step back out of your emotions, reflect what worked, why it worked, what wasn t working and re-evaluating and reinventing yourself. being an entrepreneur is about being a person willing to evolve. reinventing yourself. michael diamond, what i love
work, it can certainly be devastating. but, as we just saw, it can also be a great learning experience to build from. let s turn to this week s board of directors for their thoughts. phil davis is a serial entrepreneur who has started three businesses. his most recent addition is a restaurant called phil the fire. jen gruber is also a serial entrepreneur. she s launched three businesses, as well. jen s also the author of the book what if, and why not? . and alfred edmund is the multimedia editor at large for black enterprise dotcom. great to see all of you thank you for having me. phil, you you kind of reopened one of your first businesses, but you did see a failure in your business, and that s what you think makes your success now, correct? absolutely. i had seven years to think about what i could do different when phil the fire closed back in 2004. but i also had to reinvent myself in that process. so i had to distinguish between defeat and failure, between my emotions and
and through that process i was able to bring phil the fire back stronger, better, and do the things right when i was given the chance to take a second bite at the apple. i think what you just said is so interesting. this idea of distinguishing about emotions and passion. because that s the only way you could learn, right? i mean, your book, what if and why not tells people to just go for it. right. so, a lot of it is always following your passion. but knowing, also, where the timing is right, and the circumstances are examples right now where sometimes the timing is not right. so it takes you to step back out of your emotions, reflect what worked. why it worked. and what wasn t working. and in coming back and always re-evaluating and reinventing yourself. being an entrepreneur is about being a person who s willing to evolve constantly. reinventing yourself, and recreating as the time changes. we have to change. and michael, what i love about this piece is that he s kind of a true
well, you know, for me, it was the fact that i had done it once. phil the fire was a multimillion dollar operation, though they crashed, i knew that if i did it once, i could do it again. but more importantly, if i did it the second time, i would do it surrounding myself with the right people. not trying to do everything, i m a better owner. i m a better manager. i m a better person after having gone through all of that. and it s just an amazing process, when you don t run away from failure but you run into it and you come out stronger. one of the things, you see a lot of serial entrepreneurs. almost every really successful entrepreneur out there has had some failure. but how do you know if you are that person, and that you re not just not good at the job? i m a big believer in reading business biographies, and for that reason, the vast thing about a magazine profile, or a short news report is that you often don t get the story of the road that the entrepreneur has to travel to b