Yesterday brought the sad news of the death of Dame Anita Roddick, fo
under of The Body Shop and active campaigner on social issues.
I’ve never really known too much about Anita Roddick other than a scant knowledge of how The Body Shop started and her media image campaigning for a better world, oh and my wife and kids bringing home lots of funny little bottles full of quirky 
mixtures after their latest trip to The Body Shop.
So I thought may be it’s about time I read up on Dame Anita and find out what made her keep getting up in the morning.
If the next few posts are about just one person therefore, I make no apologies.
One of the first things that caught my attention was a quote from Dame Anita, her assessment of entrepreneurs.
“We entrepreneurs are loners, vagabonds, troublemakers. Success is simply a matter of finding and surrounding ourselves with those open-minded and clever souls who can take our insanity and put it to good use. “
Right on the button. Starting in business is lonely. No one shares the entrepreneur’s belief and passion yet the entreprenuer is desperate to share the idea. To get feedback and to find co-conspirators”
Finding people who really do believe in what you’re trying to do rather than just being polite or trying to sell you something is a constant in the entreprenuer’s life. And just because some success comes along doesn’t mean the loneliness goes away.
Finding those true supporters (cornerstones) and then keeping them close is therefore fundamental. The alternative is a solo-act which probably has less chance of success and in the absence of the right skills, money and time will rarely happen.
Entrepreneurs live to prove people wrong and change the world in which they live (not necessarily the world but their own world certainly). But most successful entreprenuers have needed their cornerstones to make this happen.
