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The road to entrepreneurship is seldom straight, but it can be very rewarding

My grandmother owned and operated a neighborhood grocery store, Ruby's, on the west side of Chicago for decades. At 85 years young, she opened her second business - a consignment store to sell dolls and doll clothes that she and her friends made. That store was downstate in Lincoln where she "retired."

Entrepreneurship is in my blood.

Even though I appear to be hardwired for business, my path to entrepreneurship wasn't exactly linear. After graduating from the University of Illinois with a degree in Industrial Design, I landed my first job in the point-of-purchase industry.

Even in my very first role, I needed more control. I had too many opinions on how things "should be done," most of which were unfortunately coupled with insufficient knowledge or experience to affect change. Even though I got my work done in a quality manner, I wasn't happy, and the lack of influence kept me from being fulfilled. These are early indicators that one will either be a budding entrepreneur or a miserable employee.

So at the ripe old age of 24, I decided I wanted to start my own business. It would take 12 years to do so. The first step? Enroll in a half-dozen business courses at The College of DuPage. I took them "virtually" - on VHS tape - in addition to working full time.

My employer knew about my desire to eventually start my own business. Fortunately, they were very gracious, giving me visibility into the strategic aspects of running the company. I worked on special projects - like a SWOT analysis for the business - even though that wasn't in my job description. We saw mutual benefit as I continued to contribute to their success, while learning about sales, finance and operations.

Frankly, I'm lucky. My employer fostered my unrelenting desire to do my own thing. And let's be honest, luck has a lot to do with success in business.

Over 11 years I resigned three times from the same company. The first two times I stuck around, receiving more responsibility in management and eventually, sales. I'm forever grateful for the ability to learn from excellent mentors, as I've applied many of those management philosophies and people skills to my companies. The third time was the charm, though - I launched my first company shortly after quitting, building my business plan on an unmet need I saw in the market.

I have some natural talents. I can read data and see how it impacts business, and I hope my team would say I'm a good "coach." However, my greatest asset is dogged persistence. Like many entrepreneurs, I don't always see the downside of what could happen, and I'm like a "bulldog on a sock" with something that needs to be accomplished - even if it takes a decade.

Today, I have a business partner and a growing marketing agency. Working with our team, we try to share what I learned along my path, attempting to treat every team member, regardless of seniority, as an equal. We want to hear their voice in the business, and we owe it to them to listen. My business partner, being a writer, coined that value "Egoless Collaboration."

Recently, a staff member confided in me that business ownership is her goal. Nothing would make me happier than to see her succeed, hoping we helped her on that path. One trait I noticed about her already: she is absolutely persistent. It takes one to know one.

That's a bit about how I got to where I am today. Over the next few months, I'll use this space to share my observations, learnings and challenges about business. And perhaps inspire the entrepreneur in you.

• Lou Simon is the Principal/Founder of Simon/Myers, a marketing agency with offices in Wheaton and Chicago.

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