[chrissnell]

In 1994, I registered bikeworld.com and helped my dad put his local bicycle store chain online. It was wild from day one. We didn't even have a proper shopping cart for the first few months--you had to fax or email your order and credit card--but the orders just came in. I was fresh out of the early days of Silicon Valley dotcom startups and I begged my dad to let us take some VC money and go big with this thing. I wanted to do a printed catalog (all the big players did one at this time) and hire some marketing people and front end designers.

Dad wouldn't have it. He had run this successful brick and mortar business since 1971 and there was just no way that he was going to trade away ownership for cash to get growth that he didn't want. The stores afforded him amonthly draw that supported him and paid for a nice house and the freedom to pursue his hobbies. He was in his early fifties and all of the tough years taught him to recognize the good thing he had.

It was a great lesson for me and his experience as a businessman is a big part of the reason why I never pursued entrepreneurship myself, opting instead for the stable life of a salaryman.