The Chandler Police Department confiscated $10,000 worth of illegal fireworks Friday from a vendor operating on Alma School Road, according to Sgt. Ricky Gonzales of the department’s media relations unit. “We want everyone to have a great week celebrating Fourth of July this week…
TJ L’Heureux
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
247 years ago, a group of men signed the Declaration of Independence and I think we can all agree that when it comes to a “founder’s story,” this one is pretty epic. What is a founder’s story? It tells the tale of how the organization got started, who started it and why they were inspired to start it. A good founder’s story tells much about a company’s principles, history and ethics.
Wouldn’t it be great if the startup stories of our businesses were as compelling as the story behind the American Revolution? They can be. That’s because the narrative behind how America was founded teaches us three lessons that can help any business owner create their own founder’s story.
Related: The Most Successful Startup Founders Are This Age, Study Finds (And No, It’s Not Early 20s)
When I think of the founding of America, I think about Franklin and Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton and all the other men and women who contributed to our nation’s birth. The bravery and battles for independence in New York, Germantown and Yorktown. The writing of a historic document in a sweltering Philadelphia room during the early summer of 1776. The diplomatic missions to France, the cold winter in Valley Forge, the massacres and revolt in Boston. These are all stories about people that we’ve learned since elementary school — and even today, we feel a connection to the lives of our founding fathers because of the tales that have been told. Shouldn’t our customers and community know the stories about our people too? Of course they should.
What kind of a person is brave enough to risk their livelihoods and even their own and their families safety for an idea? Who is so courageous that they would stand up and fight — against all odds — to oppose one of the most powerful armies in the world? How passionate about their cause does one have to be in order to defy a king? The risks our founding fathers took were enormous and potentially fatal. The risks we took to found our businesses were not as extreme but that’s not to play down the impact these risks had on our lives. Our customers and community should know about these risks too, shouldn’t they?
America’s founding fathers all have interesting stories. They all took big risks. But why? For them, it was because of a desire to be independent of someone else’s rule. To have the ability to practice religion without fear of persecution. To be able to choose who governs them and not to have that government forced upon them. They had reasons for doing what they did. They wanted to make the world a better place. As founders ourselves, so do we, even in our own little ways.
Every company has a founder’s story because, like America, every company has to start from somewhere. Of course, your founder’s story probably isn’t as dramatic as the founding of America in 1776. But it’s still your story, and it’s an important story to tell. Knowing this story helps your customers and community better engage, connect and create a relationship with you and your team.
Related: Unwound: One Founder’s Story of Finding Success in Failure
For starters, and like our founding fathers, we must also tell the stories of our founders. Our customers and community should better know us, where we come from, what we like to do, what kind of people we are. They should know a little about our families, how we give back to the community, what we find important in our lives. This is what makes us interesting. This is what connects us to our communities.
Next, let’s never forget that every business owner takes risks. It’s what sets apart an entrepreneur from an employee. People love stories about risk-takers. Think about some of the greatest startups we know: the founders of HP and Dell launching their businesses in a garage, a food equipment salesman named Ray Kroc who opened his first McDonald’s restaurant, the fledgling startup Microsoft taking on IBM, a small-time investor named Warren Buffett who struggled with just a few clients. We love how these people started from little and took risks to pursue a dream. So make sure your founder’s story talks about the risks you and your partners took to start your business. And then explain why.
Yes, why. Because most importantly, a great founder’s story also has to include purpose. This explains why you took the risk that you took. Franklin, Jefferson, Washington and all the other founding fathers didn’t want power for themselves. They wanted freedom. And they were willing to risk their lives for that cause. You and I likely didn’t risk our lives to start our businesses, but we did risk other things: money, time, relationships. Why? For me, it was to build a company that would help our clients do things quicker, better and wiser with technology. For Ray Kroc, it was to sell affordable burgers to the masses. For Microsoft, it was to put a personal computer in everyone’s home. What’s your purpose?
A great founder’s story is about the people who started it, the risks that were taken and the reasons why they took those risks. Sure, there’s a financial motive. But to start a new venture requires more motivation than just money. It requires a passion to do things a little better and a desire to create something that provides value. Or in the case of our own founding fathers, to change the world.
Gene Marks
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Established July 4, 1955, by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the Founding Church of Scientology in Washington, D.C., holds a unique place in the history of the Scientology religion.
Press Release
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updated: Jul 3, 2021
LOS ANGELES, July 3, 2021 (Newswire.com)
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L. Ron Hubbard inaugurated the Founding Church of Scientology July 4, 1955, blocks from the White House, where it served as the first fully formed center of Scientology training and religious counseling and the first international administrative headquarters for the burgeoning religion.
Located at 1812 19th St NW, it was from his office on the second floor that Mr. Hubbard served as Executive Director and coordinated the religion and its activities and churches on five continents.
In dedicating the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office in Washington, D.C. in 2012, Mr. David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, highlighted “freedom” as an essential element in Scientology Scripture and made it clear that L. Ron Hubbard selected that date and location for inaugurating the new international headquarters quite deliberately. “Just as this nation was founded upon the principles of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, so too those principles are woven into the very fabric of our Scripture,” he said.
Mr. Miscavige pointed out that the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, whose adoption we celebrate on Independence Day, are incorporated in the Creed of the Church of Scientology, published in 1954. The Creed affirms:
That all men of whatever race, color or creed were created with equal rights.
That all men have inalienable rights to their own religious practices and their performance.
That all men have inalienable rights to their own defense.
That all men have inalienable rights to conceive, choose, assist or support their own organizations, churches and governments.
That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others.
And that no agency less than God has the power to suspend or set aside these rights, overtly or covertly.
The full text of the Creed is available in a video on the Scientology Network, as is a three-part series, L. Ron Hubbard, In His Own Voice, which chronicles Mr. Hubbard’s life and discoveries through excerpts from his recorded lectures.
In an essay published in August 1954, L. Ron Hubbard wrote:
“We are extending to you the precious gift of freedom and immortality—factually, honestly.
“You are a spirit. You are your own soul. You are not mortal. You can be free.”
In that same essay, he credits America with having “kept wide the doorway” for this accomplishment “by retaining religious freedom.”
To learn more about L. Ron Hubbard and the Scientology religion, visit the Scientology Newsroom or watch programs on the Scientology Network, available on DIRECTV Channel 320, Scientology.tv, on mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire, and Apple TV platforms.
Source: Church of Scientology International