A note from our editor, Elizabeth MacBride:
I had to sit in a quiet place, away from the hurly-burly of this crazy summer, to write this editor’s note. This week, we learned of the death of Mick Cheff, the patriarch of a Montana ranching and outfitting company that I have gotten to know over the past decade or more.
Mick’s son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren are featured in The New Builders, as small business owners who have devoted their lives to a passion and a cause, the wilderness. But before I knew the younger generation, I interviewed Karen and Mick. I’ve included that original interview, below. Yes, there really are still cowboys and cowgirls in the world, and yes, there really are people who will tell a rich developer waving a blank check to get off the porch.
I loved doing that interview in part because I recognized that Mick Cheff had embraced the wisdom of time. The way you feel today is not always the way you’ll feel tomorrow, and a family business that sustains people over generations is has a higher value than a million dollars in the bank.
The audio version of The New Builders is out today!
Times of Entrepreneurship Stories of the Week
Post-Pandemic Future: A Bakery In Evanston Emerged Stronger and More Bonded To Its Town
This North Shore bread bakery persevered the Pandemic, but now it faces a new challenge: The national worker shortage
A California Developer Said “Name Your Price”
Here’s what this Montana outfitter told him.
THE HUB: World Expo Back On In Dubai, Cannabis Scholarships, And $10 Million For Entrepreneurship At Tufts
The first World Expo taking place in the Middle East will host top innovators from around the world. Plus: 5 minority entrepreneurs in New Jersey will be eligible for $20,000 grants for cannabis businesses. And Jack Derby, former director of the Tufts Entrepreneurship Center, and his wife Jan have donated $10 million to the center.
You may have missed: Commentary: Editor’s Note: Deconstructing Robinhood Robinhood’s IPO inspires our editor Elizabeth MacBride to republish the column she wrote when the Silicon Valley company stopped GameStop trading.
You may have missed: Commentary: Venture Capital Returns Are More Skewed Than People Realize 65% of investment rounds fail to return 1x capital, and only 4% fail to return greater than 10x capital.
Read it here.
You may have missed: Older Entrepreneurs Are The Fastest Growing Segment of New Business Owners They’re people like Fred Sachs, who founded and eventually sold a lumber company before turning to a new passion: selling flour to bakers in his region.
Read it here.
Living the Dream
Best practices: Looking to take your writing to the next level? Sam Apple, author of the new book Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis and the search for the cancer-diet connection, says it’s all about improving your noticing powers in “How to become a better writer by becoming a better noticer.”
Best practices: The Sackler family’s pharma business Purdue made it through three generations, turning the Sacklers into of the wealthiest families in the world and famous philanthropists. There was one problem: The source of their wealth was a painkiller that sparked the opioid crisis. In Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, author Patrick Radden Keefe reveals how it all unfolded.
Rathskeller
The 4.5 hour workweek : A productivity hack
Nothing improves productivity more on a hot summer day than homemade, no-churn ice cream. Here are some recipes.
Made in the U.S.A.
Every home gardener needs the right gear, like Duluth trading’s Women’s Heirloom Gardening Shorts Overalls ($79.50) and the Fox Gardening Knife, dubbed “the sharpest new tool in your shed.”
Wanderlust : a restaurant or activity from our Top Ecosystems list
Next time you’re in Austin and hankering for Indian food, book a reservation with Graj Mahal. You can feast on vegetarian favorites like the roasted eggplant dish baingan aloo and bindi masala, made with fresh okra; as well as lamb marinated in ginger, cage-free chicken tandoori and rechaad masala, a red chile seafood specialty.
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