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America at 250: Benjamin Franklin - America's First Great Entrepreneur · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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Three, two, one, zero.
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Ignition.
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Lift off.
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Ending small business failure.
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Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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Emerson.
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Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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Well, it's time.
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Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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Hi, everybody, and welcome to a special episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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I am your host, Melinda Emerson, the small business lady, America's number one small
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business expert.
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And, you know, we are having a special celebration in America this month.
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America is turning 250 years old, and I wanted to do something a little different here on the
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Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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What I wanted to do instead of my normal rants about things, What I decided that I wanted to
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do was create a special series to celebrate the entrepreneurs who helped to build America, not
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politicians, not generals, not celebrities, but entrepreneurs.
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And these are the men and women who saw opportunity where others saw obstacles and they
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solve problems.
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They created jobs, they built industries and they proved that business has always been one
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of the greatest forces for shaping our nation.
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But there's just one important guideline for this series.
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I am going to be highlighting entrepreneurs who were successful and who built businesses
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through innovation, hard work and service, not through the ownership or exploitation of
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enslaved people.
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America has a complex history.
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And while we acknowledge that reality, this series is really gonna focus on individuals
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whose legacies demonstrate that business can be a force for opportunity, progress, and
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community.
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And there's no better place to begin with the man many historians consider America's first
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entrepreneur.
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I say he's America's first mega entrepreneur, and his name is Ben Franklin.
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Now many of you guys know I am based in Philadelphia, been in Philadelphia thirty
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years.
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So this anniversary has a special significance to Philadelphia because the declaration of
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independence was drafted and signed here.
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So while other people think, ah, it's fourth of July, we take fourth of July pretty seriously
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around here.
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So it is extra special this year.
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And as you know, Ben Franklin has left an indelible mark on Philadelphia and the world,
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he's considered one of our founding fathers.
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But, you know, he's not just that dude with the kite flying in the thunderstorm who created
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bifocal glasses, the lightning rod.
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He's not just the face on the $100 bill long before he helped shape our nation.
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Ben Franklin built one of the most successful businesses in colonial America, and he wasn't
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born into wealth.
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He wasn't born into a powerful family.
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He wasn't handed any opportunity.
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He literally created it.
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Ben Franklin's story is really the story of entrepreneurship itself.
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Curiosity, resilience, continuous learning, calculated risk taking, unwavering commitment
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to solve problems that matter.
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And nearly three hundred years later, his lessons are still as relevant today as they
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ever were.
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So let's go back and talk about how it all began.
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The young apprentice with big dreams.
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You know, Brent Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston.
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He was the fifteenth of 17 children born to his parents, Josiah Franklin, who was a candle and
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soap maker.
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Think about that.
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I mean, 17 children, there wasn't enough money to send Benjamin to school for very long.
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His formal education actually ended when he was 10 years old.
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And today, many people believe success requires advanced degrees, produces credentials, and
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wealthy connections.
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And let's be clear, none of those things hurt, but Franklin didn't come from any of those
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advantages.
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And we know how many people, how many rags to riches stories.
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I mean, the rags to riches story is the quintessential American story.
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Right?
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Instead, he developed something far more valuable.
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Ben Franklin became obsessed with learning.
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He read everything he could get his hands on: books, essays, newspapers, philosophy, science,
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history.
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If he could borrow it, he could read it.
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And he literally became his own university.
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And that's probably the first entrepreneurial lesson that he taught us, right?
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Never let the lack of formal education be an excuse for limiting your potential.
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The most successful entrepreneurs are lifelong learners.
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Franklin proved that centuries before anyone talked about online courses, podcasts, or
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executive education, he was about that life.
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He was always trying to learn something new.
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And at 20 excuse me, at 12 years old, he became an apprentice to his older brother James's
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printing shop.
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Now to most people, printing looks like a trade, but Ben Franklin saw it as something
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much bigger.
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He saw information, he saw influence and he saw ideas.
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And most importantly, he saw opportunity.
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Now you have to remember in the early seventeen hundreds, the printing press was the internet
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of its day.
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Printers controlled how ideas spread.
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They shaped public opinion.
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They educated communities and they connected people.
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Franklin wasn't simply learning how to operate a printing press.
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He was learning how knowledge created value.
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That insight would eventually make him one of the most influential entrepreneurs in American
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history.
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But like many entrepreneurs, Franklin soon realized that he might need to go someplace
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else to get a better opportunity.
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His relationship with his brother became very difficult.
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And honestly, at 17 years old, he made one of the most boldest decisions he could in his life
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with very little money in his pocket and no guarantee of success.
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He left Boston and traveled to Philadelphia.
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He wasn't chasing a job.
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He was chasing possibility.
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And really, sometimes that could be the biggest turning point in a lot of people's you know,
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most entrepreneurial stories begin with a courageous decision to leave something familiar
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and pursue something greater.
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That decision didn't just change Franklin's life, but it helped shape the future of
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America.
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And Ben Franklin arrived in Philadelphia in 1723.
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Legend has it that he walked down the street, Market Street, in fact, with three large rolls
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of bread under his arm because that's all he could afford.
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No one looking at him then could have imagined that he would become one of the wealthiest and
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most influential person in Colonial America.
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Franklin quickly found work as a printer, mastering every aspect of the business, but he
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wasn't content simply working for someone else.
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He observed everything around him.
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He studied his customers.
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He looked for inefficiencies.
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He learned what people wanted to read and how information shaped communities.
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Here's something every entrepreneur should remember.
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Employees complete tasks, but entrepreneurs look for opportunities.
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Franklin wasn't just learning a trade.
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He was studying in industry.
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And after a brief trip to London to expand his skills, he returned to Philadelphia with even
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greater ambition.
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At just 24 years old, he formed a partnership, then he acquired the Pennsylvania Gazette,
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transforming what had been a struggling newspaper into one of the most respected
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publications in the American Colonies.
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Franklin understood something that remains true today.
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If you own the platform, you create influence.
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Franklin didn't simply report the news, he made the news engaging, practical, and valuable.
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He included essays, commentary, humor, scientific discoveries, civic discussions, and
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stories that matter to everyday people.
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He understood his audience.
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He delivered consistent value.
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He knew that trust was built one useful piece of content at a time.
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Today, we call it content marketing.
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Franklin was doing it nearly three hundred years before anyone coined that term.
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Every article strengthened his reputation.
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Every edition expanded his influence.
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Every satisfied reader became part of his growing community.
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If you have a business today, you should be asking yourself, are you consistently educating
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your customers or are you only just trying to sell them something?
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Franklin rarely led with a sales pitch and said he became a trusted source of information.
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Once people trusted him, they naturally wanted to do business with him.
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And that lesson hasn't changed.
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People still do business with people that they like, know, and trust.
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Now one of Franklin's greatest entrepreneurial inventions happened in 1732 when he created the
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Poor Richard's Almanac.
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At first glance, it looked like an annual publication, but it was a masterclass in
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branding.
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The Almanac combined weather forecasts, calendars, practical farming advice, household
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tips, financial freedom, observations about human nature, and memorable sayings that people
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repeated for generations.
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Many still quote Ben Franklin, A penny saved is a penny earned.
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Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
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And those were just a couple of his clever sayings, but really they were all marketing.
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Every saying reinforced Franklin's reputation as someone who understood success, discipline,
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and common sense.
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Today, we'd call him a thought leader.
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He understood that people don't buy products, people buy expertise, trust, and credibility.
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And for twenty five consecutive years, the Poor Richard's Almanac became one of the best
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selling publications in colonial America.
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Twenty five years.
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That's not a lucky launch.
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That's a sustainable business model built on consistency and customer value.
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Franklin also pioneered something many entrepreneurs overlook today, scalability
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rather than limiting himself to one printing shop.
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He helped establish printing businesses in other colonies through trusted partners.
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He shared systems, provided equipment, and created a network of affiliated printers who
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benefited from his expertise while expanding his influence.
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Today, we call that franchising or licensing.
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Franklin understood a simple principle.
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If your business depends entirely on you, you don't own a business, you own a job.
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The greatest entrepreneurs build systems that allow ideas to grow beyond themselves.
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By his early forties, Benjamin Franklin had achieved something remarkable.
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He had built financial independence, not just from working harder than everyone else, but
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because he built assets, he created intellectual property, he diversified his
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income, he developed partnerships, he built a trusted brand, and perhaps more importantly, he
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understood that reputation was one of the most valuable forms of capital an entrepreneur can
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possess.
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That's a lesson every business owner should remember.
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Technology changes, markets change, customer change, but trust never goes out of style.
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Now let's talk about Ben Franklin's greatest innovations.
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They were institutions and organizations that he created to serve everyone.
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By the age of 42, he had accomplished something that most entrepreneurs spend a lifetime to do.
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He built a successful business, and then he was ready to become someone who built a lasting
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legacy.
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Now, all of us should be asking ourselves, if we've built successful businesses, what can we
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do to make our society better?
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Now, Ben Franklin was known for all of the things that he built, that he made no money
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from.
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So he believed in giving back, and he wanted to build systems that could outlive him.
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One of his first major contribution was the library company of Philadelphia founded in
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1731.
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Books were very expensive in colonial America.
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Most people could not afford to build a personal library, so Franklin gathered a group
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of citizens who pulled together their resources to purchase books that everyone could share.
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At the time, it was groundbreaking.
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The library company became America's first successful subscription library, and that
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democratized access to knowledge.
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Franklin believed education was one of the greatest investments a society can make, and
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that philosophy still drives successful economies today.
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Then came another challenge.
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Philadelphia had no organized fire department.
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When a fire broke out, neighbors simply grabbed buckets and hoped for the best.
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So in 1736, he organized the Union Fire Company, America's first volunteer fire
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company.
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Franklin didn't wait for the government to fix He didn't complain about what was missing.
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He organized people around a solution.
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And entrepreneurs do that every day.
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And Franklin continued asking one simple question, what does my community need?
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And that next question led him to innovate something else.
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He established what became the University of Pennsylvania, believing that education should
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prepare people not only in classical studies, but also in practical subjects like commerce,
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science, and public service.
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He also helped to start Philadelphia Hospital, America's first public hospital, recognizing
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that quality healthcare should be accessible to the broader community.
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He improved public safety, advocated for cleaner streets.
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He helped modernize the postal system, making communication faster for all of the people
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across the colonies.
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And he really was never really chasing opportunities because they were profitable.
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He pursued them because they solved important problems.
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Ironically, solving those problems strengthened his reputation even further.
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And here's something that we should all think about.
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You know, the bigger the problem you solve, the greater your opportunity.
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It's also the greater amount of money you can charge people.
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But we can't just focus on selling things.
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We have to focus on creating value, like Ben Franklin believed.
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He said that it's really about investing in future generations.
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He didn't measure success only by income.
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He measured success by impact.
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And I think that is extremely powerful for us to think about.
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So as we think about all of the things that we have learned from Ben Franklin, I think there's
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five things that sum it all up.
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Number one, never stop learning.
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Ben Franklin's formal education stopped at 10, but he never stopped educating himself.
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And really, it could really become your greatest competitor advantage, your willingness
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to learn, adapt, and grow.
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Lesson number two, build trust before you sell.
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Franklin became one of the most respected voices in colonial America because he
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consistently provided valuable information.
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He educated first and then sold second.
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Lesson number three, solve real problems.
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Whether he was creating a subscription library, organizing a volunteer fire company, or
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improving the postal system, Franklin focused on solving meaningful problems.
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The bigger the problem you solve, the greater the lasting impact and opportunity.
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Lesson four, build systems at scale.
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Franklin didn't just stop with one printing shop.
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He expanded through partnerships, licensing, and standardizing business practices that
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allowed his ideas to grow beyond his personal efforts.
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Great entrepreneurs build organizations that can thrive beyond their personal skills.
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And lesson number five, measure success by your impact.
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Franklin believed in true success was not measured by wealth alone, but by the difference
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you can make in the lives of others.
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The strongest businesses create value for customers, opportunities for employees, and
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lasting benefits to their communities.
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So as we celebrate America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday, Ben Franklin reminds us that
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entrepreneurship is about solving problems, serving others, creating opportunity, and
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leaving something better for the next generation.
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I thank you all for joining me for this special edition of the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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I am Melinda Emerson, your host, and next time we'll meet another extraordinary American whose
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story deserves to be told.
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If you enjoyed today's podcast, please subscribe to the Small Bichette podcast and
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leave us a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
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Please share this episode with others because we want to make sure that all entrepreneurs
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know where to come to get a little bit of inspiration.
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I leave you with this.
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You never lose in business.
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Either you win or you learn.
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Remember, success is a process, not an event.
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Keep learning.
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God bless everybody.
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Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
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more fantastic information and interviews.
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You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
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website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.