CityView Magazine

editors' corner I Rebekah Sanderlin, senior editor from having to cover overhead costs, payroll, a commercial air conditioning unit — which was not provided for in the fine print of the lease — and, on top of that, an employee was stealing from me. Hard lessons learned. I loved the idea of owning a business but it was tougher than I had anticipated and my heart was not truly in it. Turns out I was not all that business savvy, either. Thanks to my parents and a patient and supportive spouse, I pulled through. My pride was hurt upon closing a chapter of my life that I was certain would S bring me fulfillment. I was even more ashamed when I realized that right in front of me was the most fulfilling job. It required lots of overtime and paid no cashola — taking care of a sweet little 3-year-old girl and nurturing a marriage that was starting to show some wear and tear at the seams. Being a stay-at- home mom is a good gig if you can swing it, and I had never seen it that way. Women in business and stay-at-home moms, I salute you. I glean so much from my volunteer jobs on post and off, too — Vanstory Hills Girls on the Run — you teach me so much each week! grew up in Frank Rudy's shadow. My grandfather was a hardworking, self-made and very successful businessman who founded a sausage company called Rudy's Farm. He was a local legend in my hometown of Nashville, Tenn. and, truly, he made business look easy. I learned the hard way that not everyone has a head for business — and that I'm not one of those blessed with a natural business sense. I have a head for words, for pictures and for ideas — but putting those ideas into action proved nearly impossible for me when I tried to do so a decade ago. My business venture failed and I lost about $10,000. That's not a huge amount compared to the losses many business owners experience, but I didn't have the money to lose and the failure definitely hurt. That experience, however, makes me appreciate even more the success that others do experience in business. No longer am I fooled by their mod- est claims of surprise luck. Succeeding in business takes a good idea, some start-up money and a whole lot of sweat equity. I am in awe of the men and women in this town and around the world who have found success translat- ing their good ideas into profit-producing companies. We tell the stories of a few such people in this issue of CityView and I hope you'll find those stories as inspiring as I do. tarting up my own business was an exciting prospect seven years ago. Anxious to put my business plan into action, I dove head first into a five-year commercial lease. Did I mention that my spouse was deployed? Aſter being open for six short months, our savings had dwindled down Kelly Twedell, features editor 10 | March/April • 2012

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