Rob May
Twenty-five percent of bankrupt entrepreneurs planned to start another company immediately.
We all know entrepreneurs are supposed to be risk takers. But this is off the charts. An SBA-sponsored study of 3,400 entrepreneurs whose companies had actually driven them into bankruptcy found that 25% planned to start another company immediately. When asked, "If you were to do it all over again, would you have started your business?" a clear majority — 61.4% — answered "yes."
Why would so many who had failed willingly put themselves through the fire again?
Some say it's because entrepreneurs tend to share certain characteristics. They're achievement-oriented, optimistic, creative, and able to delay gratification, says Bala Cynwyd (Pa.) management psychologist David Weiman. "They have an ability to keep going even when they don't have others standing shoulder to shoulder with them," he says.
Or maybe as Barry Moltz has said, we have to be a little crazy.
