The Winter Olympic Games are an inspiration for me because I find new heroines and learn new lessons from these events every four years. I don't care that most of the competitors are half my age. Their stamina and attitudes seem to make their achievements and losses that much more incredible. One of the reasons I admire them is because they embody the same ingredients that make an entrepreneur. If you don't believe me, I'll make some comparisons. Winter Olympians and entrepreneurs must:

1. Be self-starters: It's up to the entrepreneur to create projects, to organize time, and to follow through on details. Take Gold-medalist Hannah Teter (women's halfpipe) for example. She's only fifteen, but she began to snowboard about seven years ago. Her first competitors/heroes included her brothers, young men who goaded her into competition against other men. She didn't blow off the challenges. Instead, she learned from her competition and strove to practice constantly on the details - she improved on them to the point where she became a world champion. All this, and she says her experiences were "fun."
   
   
2. Get along well with different personalities: The entrepreneur often deals with demanding clients, unreliable vendors, or cranky staff persons. Imagine an ice-dancing event where every other couple falls during their performances. You and your partner fall during the last seconds as well. Do you create a public dramatic stare-down on ice like Italy's Barbara Fusar-Poli did with her partner? Or do you end with a flourish, even though you later end up on a stretcher and out of the game, like Canada's Marie-France Dubreuil?
   
   
3. Great at making last-minute decisions: Entrepreneurs often need to make decisions constantly, quickly, under pressure, and independently - even though they might have business partners. Although South Korea's Jin Sun-Yu and Choi Eun-Kyung are both on the same team and they both used the same strategies, they also had to think independently about how to maneuver around their competitors. These two women worked constantly, quickly, under pressure, and independently to finish 1-2 in the women's 1500m speed skating event.
   
   
4. Have physical and emotional stamina: Can you face 12-hour work days six or seven days a week? Do you think that you have the stamina of the Minnesota native Lindsey Kildow, for instance? Kildow sustained injuries in a disastrous fall during the trial runs at the beginning of the Olympics, and she had to endure a disqualification during the women's combined when she fell again in the short slaloms two days after her major spill. But Kildow went from hospital bed to an eighth-place finish in women's downhill skiing and seventh-place in the Super-G. That's stamina.
   
   
5. Plan well and organize: Good organization of financials, inventory, schedules, and production helps to avoid business pitfalls. Take Germany's Silke Otto for example (luge). After she placed a disappointing 13th at the 1992 Olympics and when she failed to make the German team for the 1994 and 1998 Games, Otto changed her diet and weight training programs, lost a significant amount of weight and turned herself into the most dominant slider in the world. This year she became the second women's luger to win consecutive Gold Medals. Her plans and organization paid off.
   
   
6. Have a drive to maintain ambitions: Strong motivation can make a business succeed and will help the entrepreneur survive slowdowns as well as periods of burnout. Imagine the pressure that the women in the U.S. hockey team endured during this year's Olympics. First, the U.S. expected this hockey team to face off against Canada for the Gold, because this expectation has turned into a tradition. Secondly, the players expected the Gold as well. But when that hope didn't happen this year, the U.S. team didn't lose their punch. They went on to win the Bronze against Finland, and NBC stated, "Though it was an anticlimactic game, the American women played with inspiration, harassing the Finns and celebrating each goal." There you go.
   
   
7. Think about how a business will affect the family: Lack of emotional support and financial problems might accompany an entrepreneur's foray into business. The Winter Olympics contain many stories about how families often denied simple pleasures for their Olympic hopes and hopefuls. Perhaps the most poignant story in this example involves Alpine skier Janica Kostelic, a woman who was trained by her father in war-torn Croatia as they lived in campgrounds and out of their car. This woman has suffered through eleven knee surgeries and a form of Graves' disease which forced her to remove her thyroid and that has impaired her vision. But, during these Olympics she became the first female in the history of Olympic Alpine skiing to have four career gold medals, and her six overall make her the most decorated female in Olympic Alpine history. So, while the denial and hardships might have affected Kostelic and her family, she has come through with a charmingly humble and gracious attitude about her successes. Like Hannah Teter in the first example, she looks at her past as "fun," not hardship.

This list, which you can find minus the Olympic examples at the new Small Business Administration's Site for Women, doesn't mention "ego," which is a little different than "confidence." Sometimes ego can get in the way of someone else who is qualified to finish the job. Michelle Kwan exuded grace when she dropped from the Olympics because of her injuries. On the other hand, ego can allow someone else to win. Lindsey Jacobellis, unfortunately, lacked grace when she took her spill after she executed a showboat "method air" during the snowboard cross. Her three-second fall gave Switzerland's Tanja Frieden enough time to pass her for the Gold and for the title of the first woman to win this new Olympic sport.

Winners can't win every time, because there's a lot of competition out there and because "things" happen that often prevent a podium moment. Therefore, before you find a partner and purchase a bobsled, join me next week as I offer you some more ideas about going into business for yourself.

Until Then,
Linda Goin