Great piece over at Inc.com.  The central premise is that if you are a business owner or entrepreneur, and you hang around with people who aren’t, or who don’t have compatible attitudes, you’ll suffer.

I think this is true.

My frame of reference is so different from so many of my friends.  Like, 180 degrees out-of-phase different.  This is not a slight on any of my friends or acquaintances, just an honest observation.

Most of the people I know do what most people do.  They have good jobs, where they are respected.  They get up in the morning, commute to an office, and work hard on solving the problems they were hired to solve.

This is a fine path.  It is an honest path and followers should be proud to do it.  Some will rise to the top levels of corporate management.  Some will remain in middle management.

I think the debate is open as to whether or not one is better than the other.  It’s not still open for me, nor is it open for those committed to climbing a corporate ladder, and therein lies the crux of the matter.

There are people I try to be around because it helps me think.  It helps contextualize everything I do.  My clients who have built their businesses from nothing into solid, profit centers.  My business partners who have the same challenges with scaling business processes and profitability that I do.  My self-employed friends who need new work regularly, or they don’t get paid.

Being around people like this feeds all my efforts.  It’s also fun.  Where the limits are set only by imagination and a willingness to act, the possibilities are thrilling.  Come on in…the water’s fine…