I’ve had occasion over the years to talk with a number of entrepreneurs, people who built a business of some sort which over time took off and in some cases changed as circumstances changed. As one of them noted, “Once you recognize the business principles, it almost doesn’t matter what your business does. You apply the same principles.”

Some of those principles are:

1. You recognize some need or a niche in the market that isn’t being met, or that at least there’s some room in it and you could do as well as the others providing that good or service.

2. You start off small, with a few clients or customers and you serve them well.

3. Others learn about you by reputation or advertising and you grow to where things get way more complex.

4. You have to take time to step back, analyze your challenges and move forward.

5. If you’re going to grow, you’ve got to expand into new markets or products and continue to build a team that can run with it, hopefully smarter, faster and better than you can.

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Once upon a time Meg and I were at the soccer fields watching our kids’ games and nearby there was the usual herd of younger siblings running up and down the area right behind us, our daughter among them. And there was a pile of dirt there too, probably from some sort of field maintenance work, so some of the kids were running up and down that. They were laughing and screaming - having a great time.

Then I saw this one kid pick up a clump of dirt or maybe a rock and throw it at another. He missed and it almost hit Elizabeth. So I said, “Hey, stop throwing dirt.” And this little kid, 4 or 5 years old picks up another clump, looks me right in the eye and throws it halfheartedly 5 or 6 feet, not at anyone but just to show me that he wasn’t going to obey what I said. While maintaining eye contact, which was impressive, he picked up another clump.

So I did what any man faced with such a direct challenge would do. While maintaining eye contact, I said, “Do I need to find your mother?” He still looked at me defiantly, but you could see his little mind coming to grips with his defeat. His head dropped, his shoulders dropped, and he dropped the clump of dirt and shuffled off to reevaluate his place in the universe.

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In 1975 the United States left South Vietnam. Shortly thereafter Saigon fell, and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees fled offshore on boats and began a long sojourn to find a new home. We called them the boat people. Many wound up in the United States. Some came here.

About that same time our state tried an experiment to reduce the amount of vegetation in many Florida lakes and rivers. They introduced the Tilapia, which was known for its voracious vegetarian appetite. The Tilapia is also a staple food in Vietnam, so this was a familiar friend in the midst of a totally new world for them.

Lakeland, where I grew up, has lots of lakes. And on just about any given day, on almost any lake, you would see Vietnamese men wading in the shallows, casting their nets for Tilapia. I don’t know if they were catching them for their families or to sell to the local markets and restaurants, but there they were, casting their nets.

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