The Tentative Entrepreneur: Deborah Boyer’s journey begins

Thinking about starting a business is easy. Talking about starting a business is fun. Actually starting a business– well, the emotions are not so simple to define. Equal parts fear, exhilaration, pride, sanity doubts, with an occasional or rare moment of calm satisfaction.

And that’s just the last 5 minutes.

Although I was somewhat adventuresome in my youth, in middle age I had become more of the stand-on-the-sidelines type —  a consultant. Always an aunt, never the parent.

If you read this series, you will soon discover that the most important role I play is that of aunt to my five nieces– so I am not disparaging that role. But I know I can schedule meetings for almost any time I want and have a great deal of freedom that a full-time parent does not have. So put me down as always living my life vicariously.

A chance application to the Vogt Awards helped change that for me.

Compiled on a lark late one Thursday night as I was watching The Mentalist, my application for money to develop a web tool I had spent some time searching for with no luck made it through to the second round before being cast aside.

At the time I thought that was the end of it.

But no, this summer I, along with eight others, received an email asking if I would like a scholarship to attend the Kauffman FastTrac Program courtesy of the Vogt Awards. After contacting Tendai from the GLI to ask if this was on the level, I decided that although I consider myself fairly knowledgeable and a fair consultant, maybe I needed a helping hand to push me along.

(You will hear more about Tendai and the other mentors and students soon, BUT I can tell no secrets or business plans of my fellow travelers unless they decide to give me written permission.)

So starts my journey in the world of real (non-virtual) entrepreneurship — a journey that even my friends say is changing me for the better.