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I do have another reason for writing this book, and it's to have a discussion with you, one-on-one, as much as can be done in a book.

There's a saying in our Deluxe company culture: “It's not about you.” It's meant to make people with overly big egos stop and realize that they're not the center of the universe and accept the reality that they are part of something much bigger than themselves. That's certainly a message some people need to hear. However, senior leaders on our team have heard me say the opposite, and for a very good reason. I'll say: “It's all about you.”

I don't mean that statement in the egotistical sense, but in the sense that you must step up and be leaders. As a business owner, it really is all about you. When you decide to hire people and therefore build an organization, everyone is looking to you as the owner of the business to chart a course. You need to be inspirational at times and tough at times. People look to you not just to be managed, but to be led.

I can speak from experience that it's very difficult to do. As the business owner, you get to see all the inadequacies of your situation at one time: you need to pay bills, fill open positions, compete with the new shop down the block, and bring in next month's revenues to make payroll.

You need to set prices that are low enough to not drive away your customers, but high enough to keep the doors open. You need to keep an eye on the competition and somehow find a way to keep your customers coming back.

And after long, fitful nights with all these pressures weighing on you, somehow you need to keep your team thinking and acting positively, when that is the last thing you're feeling. Does this ring a bell?

I, too, answered the calling to start and run a small business. I started a painting company in the middle of a recession, because there were no jobs for unskilled young people. Later, I was working in a well-paying safe corporate job at the time, but the urge to build something of my own was just too strong. I took the leap.

And a big leap it was. Talk about an emotional roller-coaster. Over the course of a relatively short period, I felt elation and despair. I was proud at times and at the end of my rope too many times to count. You know what I'm talking about, so I don't have to explain this to you, other than to say that it really can be the best feeling and the worst. And sometimes those feelings can happen on the same day, right?

I sold that business and didn't find another opportunity that I felt strongly enough to create another business around. These days I'm trying to make a difference in a big company. I certainly don't have all the answers, and I have my share of nights with not much sleep leading our global team. But I've learned a few things in my long career, and I will share them with you in this book.

One thing I've discovered: no matter how small your business is, or how large, there are certain surprising similarities. In other words, when you're starting out, you may think that if you eventually become a million-dollar business, or a Fortune 500 business, that you'll have arrived and your major problems will be solved. You'll be on the business equivalent of Easy Street.

That's when I think about Walter Annenberg, a businessman who was so wealthy he gave away more than $2 billion in his lifetime.¹ Here's what he had to say about success:

I want to remind you that success in life is based on hard slogging. There will be periods when discouragement is great and upsetting, and the antidote for this is calmness and fortitude and a modest yet firm belief in your competence. Be sure that your priorities are in order so that you can proceed in a logical manner and be ever mindful that nothing will take the place of persistence.

As leaders of businesses large or small, we can meet our challenges by applying hard-learned lessons from others to help us succeed. In this book we're sharing 100 years of our own hard-learned lessons, so you don't have to endure the same pain.