Entrepreneurs Will Make Business Great Again – so What Are You Waiting For?

November 21, 2017

WRITER

Have you thought about starting your own business? Entrepreneur and author Michael Sonnenfeldt had some encouraging advice for you on today’s show.

What 'School of Greatness' Author Lewis Howes Learned From the School of Hard Knocks

The economy is still upside-down with more businesses shuttering than new businesses starting, but every entrepreneur with a bright idea who is willing to put in the work can change that.

Founder and chair of the learning network TIGER 21, Sonnenfeldt recently published the book “Think Bigger: And 39 Other Winning Strategies from Successful Entrepreneurs.”

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

DOC: Hi there. It's Doc Thompson in for Glenn. Regularly heard on TheBlaze Radio network. More information on me by going to TheBlazeRadio.com. Throughout my morning broadcast, we have a couple running themes, and things we like to do. And one of them is to promote America and the idea of entrepreneurship, day in and day out. It's been one of the keys to America's success. And I think it's also one of the keys to returning America to some of the past glory we've had. Some of the economic success. If you've paid attention and looked at studies over the last 20, 30 years, our level of freedom has dropped. Our economic power has dropped.

Our educational standards have dropped. And they continue to. Now, we had built up so much steam in the previous couple of hundred years, that we had a long way to drop. And some of these categories, we still are competitive.

But it's going to keep dropping, unless we do something.

Dance with the one that brung you. And what brought us to where we are is freedom. Free markets. Entrepreneurship.

Something that we have boiled down to the entrepreneurial spirit, dreaming and doing.

Lots of people dream. You probably dream every day. You drive down the street and you're like, you know, I've always wanted to open that hot dog stand. I've always wanted to go and do this. I've always wanted to start that company that does this. And you don't do it.

But for some, they're actually driven, obsessed, passionate about something, where that idea grows and grows. That they just have to act on it. And they do.

Many times, failing. You know the stories of people like Milton Hershey, who start company after company after company, before they started. You know the story, Edison and the lightbulb, trying 5,000 times before he found the right filament for the incandescent lightbulb, or whatever the reason, they're just driven to do.

We need to teach that. We need to grow that. We need to understand it. So how can I help you? Well, one of the biggest challenges we face when starting a company, even if it's just a side business to supplement your business for your family, is marketing. Is promotion.

How do you get attention without having millions of dollars to advertise and cut through? Well, once you get some attention, a little bit of the word out there, you know, it can grow. Word of mouth. It's such a good idea, product, or idea or service, that it can grow.

Well, how do you start? Well, social media, great. There's a million other people trying as well.

Well, on our morning broadcast, we offer people some free airtime. Free. Just to promote their products. We call it Building America.

In fact, if you go on Twitter and look up the #buildingAmerica, you can go back and find great products and services.

Sometimes, those people have such success, they end up becoming advertisers on our program. Sometimes they don't. But we try to help them.

And along the way, our listeners get some good content. They get to hear about good products and services. They hopefully get to hear about companies and a good story about how they started.

I mean, how many movies have been made about people who started companies and -- and musicians and actors, and how they made it, and their climb and rise to fame. Well, you get a good story along the way and hopefully some inspiration.

We are just days away from Black Friday, one of the biggest capitalist days of the year in America, where everybody runs out, their retailers and start buying things. And then cyber Monday, a little under a week from now. We're at the time of year where a lot of people in the retail world make their money. It sets them up for the next year, or don't.

So this Friday, as I fill in on the Glenn Beck Program, as I've done in the last couple of years, I'm going to extend my Building America idea for my morning broadcast, and I'm going to offer you free airtime on Glenn Beck's program, as long as he doesn't stop me.

And as far as I know, he's held up in a bunker somewhere right now, roasting a turkey. As long as he doesn't stop me, I'm going to give away free commercials on this program, and all you have to do is call up Friday morning, and I'll give you 60 seconds to promote your business.

Now, if you don't get through, still use the #buildingAmerica, and tell us about your business, products, or services. And if you hear good stuff and you don't remember, look it up, #buildingAmerica. That's my commitment to you. How can I help you promote your business? How can we together grow America and again become leaders in the world of development, entrepreneurs, and just fostering good ideas?

Joining me now is Michael Sonnenfeldt, author of Think Bigger and Thirty-Nine Other Winning Strategies From Successful Entrepreneurs. He's also the founder of TIGER 21 Investment Group.

Hi, Michael, how are you, sir?

MICHAEL: Great. Thanks for having me, Doc.

DOC: I enjoyed having you so much on my morning broadcast a few months back. I'm like, I've got to get you on this week as we start talking about entrepreneurs. I don't know if you could hear me discussing just now before I -- before I went to you, the idea of entrepreneurship. And it's just so lost in America now.

MICHAEL: Yeah. You know, there's an interesting study of all-time low rates of formation between 25 and 30-year-olds of entrepreneurship. And in the last five years, we had three years where business deaths exceeded business births. And the one that's most interesting is the average new company today employs 25 percent fewer people than a new company did a decade ago. That may be because of technology, but it all leads to the crisis that we're having in creating working and middle class jobs that we so desperately want.

DOC: You know, it's funny too, we look around and see all the other problems, whether it's crime or shiplessness, or whatever it is. You know, one of the things that gets you out of that is when you have something you can feel passionate about. When you have a reason to get up in the morning. So you have this idea, and you start that cookie company or whatever it is. If you're young, I don't even think they get the joy that can come out of creating something.

MICHAEL: Yeah, it's so interesting. Because, you know, we're facing a crisis that's unique in human history. Some people believe that technology is now advancing so that for the first time, 20 percent of everybody might be able to build everything that's needed for 100 percent. What are we going to do with the other 80 percent of people?

And we have this middle class and working class problem. We have low unemployment. But we have even low rates of participation. So the low unemployment masks it. And the problem isn't China or India or Mexico. It's computerization. Automation. Artificial intelligence.

And these are really where the job stresses are. Take Amazon. Fantastic company. Puts a shopping center on everybody's desk. But 46 percent of retail jobs have disappeared in the last decade. And we have automation coming with cars and autonomous driving. And with all of these changes, the only thing that's going to save us is entrepreneurs creating new and exciting companies that employ the next generation of working and middle class folks.

DOC: Yeah. And it's not just the company. It's creating, you know -- from ideas, products or, you know, that eventually may be gobbled up by the big guys or done more efficiently. But it is about ideas.

That's one of the things that makes us human is thinking and then dreaming and then sharing.

MICHAEL: Yeah. In fact, one of the things that's most concerning for me is there's a proposal called universal income. The idea is if technology is taking all the jobs, maybe we should pay people just to do nothing. And I can't think of a worse program, precisely because of what you're talking about. People want to work. They want to be productive. And they want to have a society in which they can be productive. The last thing I want to do is give people money not to work. Use all those dollars, if they're going to be spent on creating great jobs and infrastructure in our country. But don't pay people not to work.

DOC: No, it doesn't work. Trust me, I have members of my family and some of my producers I pay, and they do nothing, and it's a failed process.

KRIS: Excuse me.

DOC: Look, they do very little.

So, Michael, how do we, first of all, inspire? I think telling stories helps. But how do we inspire? What would some of these successful entrepreneurs say?

MICHAEL: You know, first of all, successful entrepreneurs -- the title of the book Think Bigger -- comes because the great entrepreneurs just naturally constantly think bigger. They go from one falling ladder to the next. They have this grit that keeps them going.

So part of it is personality. And one of the things I just want to stress is not everybody is cut out to be an entrepreneur. You have to have a certain kind of fortitude. And if your career anchor is security, you probably shouldn't be an entrepreneur, because there's a lot of risks.

But most entrepreneurs start a business because they have an idea for a product our a service. It's not just to make money. They're passionate about making a difference, about delivering something. Doing something better.

So I think coming up with these ideas, look around, everywhere you turn, you can do something better if you think about it and envision it. And sometimes we get confused. Because you mentioned Edison, but you could have said Apple.

DOC: Yeah.

MICHAEL: These are the inventory entrepreneurs, but not all businesses are inventor entrepreneurs. Take Five Guys hamburgers, 2500 franchises.

DOC: It's incredible.

MICHAEL: They just felt that they could make a better hamburger, that was the best quality. And they didn't want to focus on anything, but the food. So the stores are red and white tile. They spent the least amount of money possible, and put everything into making the best food and the best hamburger. And in poll after poll, they're voted, you know, best hamburger in the community.

DOC: They do great, yeah, they're good.

MICHAEL: So that's just one of thousands of stories of people who have these ideas. One of the stories I like is, in the book, I feature, Robert Oranger (phonetic), who is fascinated by diabetes and helping people with diabetes do better in their lives and lead normal lives. And lo and behold, in the weird irony of life, he has two kids who end up having diabetes, and now he's able to provide a life for his kids with better products and new innovations that give them a completely normal life. And they're doing great.

DOC: It's funny because I extend the entrepreneurial spirit even to things that aren't, you know, traditionally entrepreneurs. You think entrepreneurs meaning capital, free markets, you know, for profit. Even people that have ideas for nonprofits, it's -- you know, it still takes that passion, number one, or an idea, and then number two, that you actually step off a safe ground at some point and try it.

MICHAEL: You know, you're so write. One of the pleasures of having written Think Bigger, is that a lot of social entrepreneurs, that's who you're talking about, are reading it. And we found that it exhibits many of the same challenges when you're a social entrepreneur. You're starting with nothing. One way or another, you have to raise the capital.

You have to have an idea, and you have to throw it out into the competitive landscape. And you have to have people get by.

And whether you're, you know, running a community center or you have an idea to help people make -- get healthier or running a hospital or a for-profit business, you need many of the same skills that it takes to be successful.

DOC: And you've certainly had your share of businesses as well. Tell us about TIGER 21. What is that?

MICHAEL: Sure. TIGER 21 is the premier network, I think in the world today of first-generation wealth creators that have been enormously successful. So today we have 580 of the top entrepreneurs from across North America. We just opened in London. And our first meeting in Hong Kong is coming up this month. And these members join together in groups of 12 to 15, totally confidential settings. And these are people who are so successful, they're about one in 10,000, by -- by level of success.

And the group as a whole manages tens of billions of dollars of assets. We're not a manager. Each member manages their own assets. But when you sell your business and you now become a wealth preserver, that's a completely new challenge. An entrepreneur is totally different than an investor. Entrepreneurs milk one opportunity for everything it has. It's like their child. They don't want to give it up. An investor is dispassionate and has a price for everything they want to sell. And you could be a great investor and a lousy entrepreneur, or a great entrepreneur and a mediocre investor. And this is the place where we have a personal board of directors. And each member looks around the table to peers whose only objective is to help one another. It's totally confidential. People are totally vetted. We don't want any skunks in the room.

DOC: It's a great idea.

MICHAEL: And it's just magic what people can do when they're learning from one another and teaching what they know to one another.

DOC: It's a fantastic idea. I'll tweet out a link to it. It's TIGER21.com. And that's the number 21. Not spelled out. TIGER21.com. And I'll also tweet out a link to your Twitter account. It's MWSonnenfeldt, is that right?

MICHAEL: Exactly.

DOC: All right. Michael, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

MICHAEL: Thanks for having me. Have a great day.

DOC: Michael Sonnenfeldt, author of Thinker Bigger and Thirty-Nine Other Winning Strategies From Successful Entrepreneurs and also founder of TIGER 21.

URGENT: Supreme Court case could redefine religious liberty

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

Get ready for sparks to fly. For the first time in years, Glenn will come face-to-face with Megyn Kelly — and this time, he’s the one in the hot seat. On October 25, 2025, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Glenn joins Megyn on her “Megyn Kelly Live Tour” for a no-holds-barred conversation that promises laughs, surprises, and maybe even a few uncomfortable questions.

What will happen when two of America’s sharpest voices collide under the spotlight? Will Glenn finally reveal the major announcement he’s been teasing on the radio for weeks? You’ll have to be there to find out.

This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

Get your tickets NOW at www.MegynKelly.com before they’re gone!

What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

America’s moral erosion: How we were conditioned to accept the unthinkable

MATHIEU LEWIS-ROLLAND / Contributor | Getty Images

Every time we look away from lawlessness, we tell the next mob it can go a little further.

Chicago, Portland, and other American cities are showing us what happens when the rule of law breaks down. These cities have become openly lawless — and that’s not hyperbole.

When a governor declares she doesn’t believe federal agents about a credible threat to their lives, when Chicago orders its police not to assist federal officers, and when cartels print wanted posters offering bounties for the deaths of U.S. immigration agents, you’re looking at a country flirting with anarchy.

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic.

This isn’t a matter of partisan politics. The struggle we’re watching now is not between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between good and evil, right and wrong, self‑government and chaos.

Moral erosion

For generations, Americans have inherited a republic based on law, liberty, and moral responsibility. That legacy is now under assault by extremists who openly seek to collapse the system and replace it with something darker.

Antifa, well‑financed by the left, isn’t an isolated fringe any more than Occupy Wall Street was. As with Occupy, big money and global interests are quietly aligned with “anti‑establishment” radicals. The goal is disruption, not reform.

And they’ve learned how to condition us. Twenty‑five years ago, few Americans would have supported drag shows in elementary schools, biological males in women’s sports, forced vaccinations, or government partnerships with mega‑corporations to decide which businesses live or die. Few would have tolerated cartels threatening federal agents or tolerated mobs doxxing political opponents. Yet today, many shrug — or cheer.

How did we get here? What evidence convinced so many people to reverse themselves on fundamental questions of morality, liberty, and law? Those long laboring to disrupt our republic have sought to condition people to believe that the ends justify the means.

Promoting “tolerance” justifies women losing to biological men in sports. “Compassion” justifies harboring illegal immigrants, even violent criminals. Whatever deluded ideals Antifa espouses is supposed to somehow justify targeting federal agents and overturning the rule of law. Our culture has been conditioned for this moment.

The buck stops with us

That’s why the debate over using troops to restore order in American cities matters so much. I’ve never supported soldiers executing civilian law, and I still don’t. But we need to speak honestly about what the Constitution allows and why. The Posse Comitatus Act sharply limits the use of the military for domestic policing. The Insurrection Act, however, exists for rare emergencies — when federal law truly can’t be enforced by ordinary means and when mobs, cartels, or coordinated violence block the courts.

Even then, the Constitution demands limits: a public proclamation ordering offenders to disperse, transparency about the mission, a narrow scope, temporary duration, and judicial oversight.

Soldiers fight wars. Cops enforce laws. We blur that line at our peril.

But we also cannot allow intimidation of federal officers or tolerate local officials who openly obstruct federal enforcement. Both extremes — lawlessness on one side and militarization on the other — endanger the republic.

The only way out is the Constitution itself. Protect civil liberty. Enforce the rule of law. Demand transparency. Reject the temptation to justify any tactic because “our side” is winning. We’ve already seen how fear after 9/11 led to the Patriot Act and years of surveillance.

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor | Getty Images

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic. The left cannot be allowed to shut down enforcement, and the right cannot be allowed to abandon constitutional restraint.

The real threat to the republic isn’t just the mobs or the cartels. It’s us — citizens who stop caring about truth and constitutional limits. Anything can be justified when fear takes over. Everything collapses when enough people decide “the ends justify the means.”

We must choose differently. Uphold the rule of law. Guard civil liberties. And remember that the only way to preserve a government of, by, and for the people is to act like the people still want it.