Inc. Readers Review " The Aviator"

 

Inc. readers review the film, and discuss Howard Hughes the entrepreneur, and the similarities they seen between Hughes and themselves in this Q&A with Inc.

From The Desk Of:

Jay Goldberg, CEO, Bergino

Ken Panton, President, www.ecityofstyle.com

Brandon Evans, CEO, THREADCOUNTzzz

Inc: Are there any similarities between you and Howard Hughes?

Evans: When you're trying something new, you have a vision and it's kind of hard to articulate to people. He had these crazy ideas that had a lot of validity to them. It takes a lot of work to get other people to buy into that vision.

Panton: He's very hands on, too. No matter how big his company was, he was always a little bit of a control freak. And I know in my biz I'm very much like that until everyone's on the same page. I get adamant. Not to his point, though.

Inc: Are you self-conscious about being a control freak?

Panton: In the beginning, when we launched four years ago, I was very self-conscious. But to be an entrepreneur, you have to be controlling, especially in the beginning.

Bergino: I don't think you have a choice. That's just the way entrepreneurs are. For me, I am controlling. There's no question. But then my products go into retail stores. It's the most important moment, but I have no control over it. The retailers can do whatever they want. It's very frustrating.

Evans: Every little detail I get into it, every stitch. But sometimes you have to pull yourself back to make sales and other things. It's a balancing act.

Inc: How do you balance the desire to have things perfect with monetary constraints? In the movie, Hughes had millions of dollars at his disposal, but most entrepreneurs don't.

Panton: I wish I could call up my accountant, like Hughes did, and just say, "Figure out a way to finance this."

Evans: There comes a point where money's money. You do what you can do.

Bergino: In some ways, it's a blessing to have financial constraints. You have to be a little more creative if you don't have the money. I couldn't relate to Hughes at all. I wish I had Ava Gardner. The one thing that I could sort of relate to was when he had to go in front of the motion picture board to get approval for the movie The Outlaw. All of a sudden, he had a meteorologist playing a doctor to plead his case. That's kind of what happens on a daily basis. You have to wing it. At that point, his money wasn't going to help him.

Evans: I could also identify with Hughes the couple of times he mortgaged everything to keep the business going. As an entrepreneur, you have to bet everything. That's what I did. You really have to be willing to risk everything.

Panton: And you have to convince other people to invest in your vision.

Inc: Would you like to branch out into many different industries?

Panton: I would love that. To start something, get it to a point, and then move onto something else. I love the excitement. Build a business; build a brand that people respect. That's what I'm trying to do. Then move onto different facets of the industry.

Evans: I have a lot of random ideas that don't have anything to do with each other. I threw everything into TC because I thought I could build it. I thought it was amazing when he's talking about building airplanes and bras during the same scene.

Panton: One minute he's talking about hydraulics and a rudder, then the next he's saying, "By the way, fix that bra." That's an entrepreneur.

Bergino: He was out of his mind, but he could do a lot of things well at the same time.

Panton: Multitasking is the trait of a true entrepreneur. Multitasking and delegating.

Evans: He found the best people in his field and so he was able to delegate easily.

Inc: Do you think that the stress of the biz contributed to his breakdown?

Bergino: Obviously, that started when he was much younger. I don't think the stress pushed him over the edge. As a matter of act, that was the only time when he seemed happy. Especially when he was flying. He was in heaven when he was in a plane.

Panton: I used to fly out of Nantucket Island. Sometimes I used to fly by myself. It's a really nice feeling. Then Hughes gets on the ground, and he's back to multitasking.

Evans: I think the highs and lows did affect Hughes. In business, the highs are so high and the lows are so low. It's so extreme.

Inc: What do you do to get out of a low period?

Evans: It's definitely tough. That's why I respect the fact that Hughes was able to make it through the hearing at the end of the movie. When you're up against the wall, you do what you have to do to survive and make things happen?

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