By Doug Kisgen, owner of Kisgen Group, Inc. (Culture Index) and Fregata Fitness, Inc. (Iron Tribe Fitness)

I always had the desire to own my own business. My Dad was a CPA and business owner, and his Dad was the local Phillips 66 guy in a small town (he even had a gas pump in his front yard!). Right out of college, I formed my first corporation. It was a music-publishing company, and basically it was a means to funnel income from a professional band I was in. I ended up starting a percussion instruction company and ran some other ideas through the business, but none of them completely took off.

Over the course of several years, I found different ways I could be in charge of something without fully starting a business. I call this time of my life my the “intrapreneur” years. I was a personal trainer, two-location health club manager, family-teacher at Boys Town and head of the training department at a billion-dollar franchise organization.