That Sausage Guy: Make Sure Your Business Title Looks Good on a Tombstone

Not to knock anything about Jimmy Dean or his company, but when he passed away this past June (June 14, 2010) I was amused at the blog title proclaiming that the “country singer and sausage entrepreneur” had died.

I realize that they were trying to dress him up and make it sound rather grand to be a sausage “entrepreneur”, but when I tried to describe Jimmy Dean to someone, all I could think to say was “the sausage guy”–certainly “guy” was less lofty than “entrepreneur”.

Now, it is totally fine to call Jimmy Dean a sausage entrepreneur, because certainly he was a great businessman, head of a very successful company. So I don’t mean to knock Jimmy Dean (I never knew him and I barely know *of* him  beyond buying his sausage for years and liking the song “Big Bad John”), but the blog title I read started me thinking about what my epitaph would read. I don’t think I want it to say “country singer and sausage guy” even if I were to make a million dollars doing it. Only because I don’t really like sausage all that much and I can’t sing a note.  Jimmy Dean, however, was good at both things which makes that title honorable for him, but for me it just wouldn’t work. Which is why it matters what business you choose to do—and that you choose what you WANT to do because at the end of the line, even if you make millions, you won’t be known as “the millionaire entrepreneur”, you’ll be labeled “that sausage guy” and if you really loved sausage, you’ll be ok with that historical moniker–even proud to carry it. But if you were only in it for the money, being forever labeled “the sausage guy” might not be what you had set out to achieve. So remember you legacy as you look out at your future. Be sure you’re doing what you WANT, it might be what people remember about you.