Entrepreneurs must be encouraged to take risks, but that factor has been lowered because more businesses operate out of personal spaces, Joe Scarborough said on Wednesday during an Afternoon Mo Joe roundtable discussion.
“Why am I thinking about paying for brick and mortar, and paying the lease, and dealing with regulations when I can do it out of my garage?” he said.
His question followed a discussion about Brandi Temple, stay-at-home mom turned entrepreneur who built a multimillion-dollar children’s apparel company primarily through Facebook. She operates her business, “Lolly Wolly Doodle,” out of a 20,000 square-foot facility: her garage.
“Yes, you have to encourage risk, but actually, the risk is lowered now,” Scarborough said about operating from a personal space.
Last week, Revolution Growth, a company founded by Steve Case, announced a $20 million round of investment in Lolly Wolly Doodle.
Temple is one of the largest employers in Lexington, N.C., an area hit hard by the recession. With the investment from Revolution Growth, she plans to hire an additional 100 people in the southern state for operations and manufacturing.
The country needs entrepreneurs who are encouraged to have a risk-taking mentality, said Brian Shactman, host of Way Too Early.
“Business people fail. They fail more than they succeed, and they need to try if they’re ever going to succeed,” he said during the roundtable. “So many people aren’t even trying.”
Temple is a model of the “rise of the rest,” Case’s belief that entrepreneurs are found around the country, not in one place. Her team processes 90% of its sales through social media.
“While small business may face additional regulations and the cost of health insurance, the good news is that the brightest stars among them have figured out how to use social media, how to find their community,” Nicolle Wallace, former communications director to President George W. Bush, said during the discussion. “They can bridge the gap or make up the difference and be profitable.”
Watch Temple’s exclusive greenroom interview with msnbc’s Louis Burgdorf on her company’s success story.
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Michele Richinick