That 'entrepreneurial spirit'

My parents are entrepreneurs. They own a tree service company in Charleston, S.C., called Charleston Stump Stompers and Tree Service and have since 1989, when Hurricane Hugo ravaged the city.

They didn't start out as "tree people," as my mom would refer to them. They went to school for accounting, actually. But after Hugo hit, my dad saw an opportunity to be his own boss...and help people at the same time.

The storm leveled trees all over the area, leaving nothing but ugly stumps everywhere you looked. So my mom and dad took a loan out for a stump grinder and got to work. Thus, Charleston Stump Stompers was born.

Since then, it's evolved into a full service tree company, and I'm proud to say that my parents were innovative, smart and HARD WORKING enough to pull through the worst of the Great Recession. (They even used a bit of their B-school knowledge and invested in their own company while competitors were trimming costs and going under. Check out their rebranding, done by a good buddy of mine, Jay Fletcher of JFletcher Design.)

I'm telling you this story because when I got laid off, I immediately began drafting a business plan. My first instinct wasn't to start sending out resumes or schedule informational interviews, it was to start my own business. (Actually, my first instinct was to hop a flight to Buenos Aires and wash my worries away with cheap bottles of Malbec and red meat.) I think its a testament to growing up with parents who never worked for the Man.

Hopefully, it's a sign of things to come, too. My dream, whether it's asecond-hand shop or a Web site or a taco stand, is to be a small-business owner -- to be my own boss and hopefully help people through my company and its products or services.

It's easy to forget about these aspirations when you're stuck in the daily grind, working 9-5 (or more like 7 or 8) and living off of Amy's frozen dinners. But the video I came across above reminded me of what I'm working toward, and gave me a little inspiration to boot.