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How Being a Caddie Prepared Me for Entrepreneurship

January 5, 2014 Adam Sonnhalter

I got this crazy idea the other day, while mowing the lawn of course! I was thinking back to my summers during high school and college when I spent most of my days as a caddie at The Elyria Country Club. I thought, you know what, my days as a caddie were pretty important in shaping and preparing me to be an entrepreneur.

A couple of quick things that popped into my head that I learned while caddieing:

1. Nobody’s going to force you to show up everyday to work, you do it because you want to and because people are counting on you
2. You have to get started early in the morning before most people are up and about
3. People with money are no different from people without money at the core (some are good and some are bad)
4. Everybody is important and should be treated with respect
5. You can’t do everything by yourself, even though sometimes you wish you could
6. You learn a lot about the real person on the golf course
7. People will give you a chance to atone for your mistakes as long as you take ownership of them

These are just a few of the initial thoughts that were swirling around in my head and I thought hey, these could make for some interesting posts. There are a lot of other great words of wisdom I picked up while caddieing such as one entrepreneur named Lou who told me “The only way to make sure you live where you want is to own your own business.” Simple, but very wise. That has stuck with me for over 20 years now and I’m sure Lou has no idea!

My days as a caddie also had impacts on both my personal and business lives that I never could have predicted, from meeting my business partner Jack, to one of my fellow caddies who was in my wedding. We did have our share of Caddyshack moments as well (for those of you who have seen the movie) and I’ll relate some of those stories too!

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