Agent Jade.

With such a team, it’s no wonder that we’ve been taking leaps forward. Our roles are expanding and the industries where we have been spending most of our time are taking off. Of course, that means documents are piling up with updated strategies, Jeremy’s phone is constantly alerting him, and future collaborations are making headway.

It seems like we are always looking to the future – we have chains of unending emails, back-to-back meetings, and conference calls galore. Eva and Michelle have been taking care of all of that, reaching out to every partner and potential collaboration, and then assessing the opportunities. Hao, as our mathematical genius (when he isn’t preparing for national mathematics competitions) has been staying on top of the financial modeling throughout this entire process, crunching numbers to keep it all moving along. All the while, Jeremy is checking in, refining the process, and managing the macro logistics.

Lately, we’ve been collecting our fair share of fortunes, conveniently ordering Chinese food and cracking open the cookies to reveal some not-so-revealing insights into the future.

Sometimes, I like to think that the fortune is the best part of the meal – it’s like a little test of fate.

And these small slips of paper can carry pretty bold statements. For instance, today I was told “the fellow who doesn’t need a boss is often the one selected to be one.”

This got me thinking: does this mean that we are our determiner of our lives, our actions, our decisions? Realistically, it’s just a phrase, a saying, some ink – but it unleashes a wave of philosophic ponderings.

It might not be the most clear (or clever) of fortunes, but it has a point (a debatable one, too). As independent as we can be, we still depend on others, especially in business. I mean, how else could a market exist?

Looking beyond this apparent fact, the be-your-own-boss and answer-to-yourself idea is a bit more profound. There’s an aspect of choice that goes into decision-making, into communications and interactions that rests upon this guiding nature. The independent are those who will drive directly to the solution. Yes, they need some help, but they will be the ones to reach out and get it.

If entrepreneurship could be bottled up and sold on a shelf, what would the label say? Could it even be captured in a label?

It certainly wouldn't be as straightforward as any typical nutrient label breakdown, contains 2% daily value of sodium, 10% calcium, 20% iron, etc., etc. Could it even be broken down at all? Well…

There’s the determination, the will that keeps the entrepreneur going day after day. A classic instance of such determination is waking up after way-too-little sleep and refusing to hit “snooze,” perhaps an all-too-relatable occurrence.   

There’s the passion, the heart of the entrepreneur. Passion is essential; it keeps everything moving forward and gives it value.

So, we put this all together. The determination, the creativity, the passion…and maybe a few cups of coffee. Do we have the “ingredients” of an entrepreneur?  This may be a close characterization, but something tells me that it’s not quite right – and it very well may never be just right.

From an insider’s perspective, the happenings of the outside world are magnified. The insider sees beneath the surface, aware of the intricacies that may not be apparent otherwise.

Press releases that reach the ordinary eye may present themselves as words to be consumed at the most basic level. People read them, maybe form options, maybe don’t – but these bits of information are scrutinized by someone who’s in-the-know.

Insiders don’t just see words; they experience the content like a web of knowledge.

All of these details are bits and pieces of the decision-making process – email content, specific costs, dialogue from meetings – and the information unfolds before the insider’s eyes.

It’s a bit of a nasty habit. And we’re all guilty of it. A thought penetrates and festers within the unforgiving walls of the mind, spinning gears until the idea begins to burn with the heat of repetition.

Suddenly, there’s the transition from oh, that’s so simple to how did this get so complicated – and what began as a clear idea becomes a riddle in a foreign language.

The idea cannot be un-thought, the idea cannot be reasoned. It remains, trapped.

This might be the point where it overthinking flirts with combustion. Heating the gears, analyzing and reanalyzing, only feeds into the process.

We all have those moments – usually midday with an empty coffee cup in hand – when we wish we could somehow acquire superhuman powers to make things easier. Becoming sluggish or frustrated, we wonder…and wonder, wonder...

Drifting off, I think, imagine if I were able to read minds.

Getting inside someone’s head might be a bit extreme (not to mention invasive), but imagine the possibilities… No more misinterpretations. No more unfinished statements. No more cliff-hangers.

Think about it. Interpersonal communications within business are inevitably complex. Tangled webs of person A, person B, and their individual networks become entire alphabets of people. One word is mistranslated, one gesture is convoluted – soon enough the whole network is a jumbled knot.

The slow-moving schemes, our day-to-day conversations, and our where-to-go-from-here solutions are beginning to converge into a reality. They are reaching out beyond our fingertips onto pages that new minds will read, pages that fresh eyes will see, that unknown fingertips will graze.

This coming together, suddenly “all there” finish-line-progress is effective, yes, but a bumpy road to say the least. 

It reminds me of running.

You throw on some running shoes and take your body out into a jumbled, carefully overthought world. Muscles twinge with release, you push yourself forward, feeling as though something might snap. Head up, you keep going. You pump your arms and lengthen your stride, but onlookers cannot feel the slamming of your feet on the pavement. You’re gaining way. Sweat seeps out of your pores, and a passerby may notice that determined look in your eyes. But everything is going on inside – the pounding of your heart, the elasticity of your lungs, the sharpness of the air as it whips at your face. The only thing you have to show is the distance, the end result.

You might say New Yorkers have a certain lifestyle that goes hand-in-hand with entrepreneurship – the brisk walk, coffee in one hand and a smartphone in the other, eyes darting forward – but you don’t have to be a New Yorker (though we still pride ourselves on being from the Big Apple) to be an entrepreneur. In fact, being an entrepreneur transcends any social barrier.

Take a sip of your coffee and think about it. Entrepreneurs don’t conform to these stereotypes because, well, entrepreneurs don’t really conform to anything stereotypical.

If there was a black page containing point A and point B and the entrepreneur had a choice to draw a line between the two, he would know that the straight line would be the path most drawn. A typical person would grab a pen, maybe a ruler, connect the points, and move on with his day. The entrepreneur takes the unconventional approach, drawing a line never before seen. He may have to use a pencil, because mistakes will be made and plans will be rewritten as new approaches form. But, looking beyond the eraser shavings, he finds an unexplored path, a path of innovation.

There’s an entrepreneur in all of us, the creator who refuses to settle for the average, who strives beyond the commonalities of everyday life. We walk as quickly as we think, we move and move and move, pause to take a step back, and rush forward in a new direction. Our coffee burns our tongues, but keeps us awake until the late hours, when we brainstorm, work out the little kinks in our strategies, and finalize our plans.

With our table covered with everything necessary for noshing – sweet chocolate-chip cookies and savory take-out from a nearby Chinese restaurant – we got to work.

Most of the afternoon was dedicated to focusing (and I mean that in-the-zone kind of focusing) on brand development and market research in the hospitality and personal care industry. Amid jotting down price points, considering competitive landscapes, and conversing about investment logistics, we took some time to really reconnect. Jeremy pulled up a chair, capturing everyone’s attention as per usual, and got the conversation flowing.

It’s finally, officially, autumn, and time to start fresh after the long summer. Somehow, it’s like another spring (minus the necessary cleaning and pollen-filled air) in the way that the change of season welcomes novelty.

Here at Agent Jade, we can say that this novelty is best attributed by the little things – fresh faces in the office, distribution channels taking root, and our email tallies reaching new absurd milestones.

Today, our new intern Hao quietly focused on scanning the details of our personal care client and constructed a financial model. Facts and figures, prices and statistics; yes, these are numbers that could be repetitious or independently confusing, but they do in the end create some of the backbone of a new company.

Across the table, I was burning my search engine in the attempt to characterize a consumer base for the same project. Research and words, data and information; everything was raw and in need of more personalized analysis.

Next to me, Eva’s blank notebook began to fill with scribbles as her thoughts and creative energy leaked through. New emails transformed from empty white spaces to details of conference calls, meeting dates, and project agendas. Plans and documents, details and events; never-ending, as it happens.