that the whole marketing communications department at Texas Instruments, in which Guy worked, was laid off because the company decided to outsource it. Having a wife and two daughters to support Guy had to find money somewhere and decided to start his own business. It is true that in most cases there is a triggering event that gives birth to an entrepreneurial venture, the same applies to the cases here. While both of the events seemed detrimental to Guy Lawson and Brenda Cantley’s lives, their “entrepreneurial spirit” allowed them to pick up the pieces and start two successful ventures.So how does one decide what kind of business to start after they have already decided to become an entrepreneur? For the cases of Guy Lawson and Brenda Cantley the choice was clear. Brenda was always volunteering to help raise money; first, for her oldest daughter’s cheerleading squad, then for her son’s soccer team. In fact, she volunteered so much through the years she acquired the nickname: “the fund-raising queen”. She was a born saleswoman, and staying true to her nickname all of her fund-raising efforts were extremely successful. When her husband got sick she saw an ad in the paper to make money by fund-raising for schools and different organizations. She worked for a man who lived in Dallas for about a month before she saw how inefficient he was and quit to start her own business (taking her customer base with her). Her business started out with only one employee: her. She suggests ways to raise money to schools, then supplies the products from suppliers, furnishes the catalogs, processes the orders, then delivers the merchandise to the schools. Guy Lawson had worked in marketing communications for eight years and during that time had come up with numerous ideas for starting a business in that field. After he was laid off, the choice for what kind of venture to start was almost a no-brainer. ...
