What’s Your Currency?

A great client and friend of mine, George Berbeco, shared the stage with me at an IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers presentation many years ago. I spoke about product publicity and marketing and he addressed small business management. I distinctly recall his succinct definition of the roll of business: To create assets. The assets his company created were electrostatic control products.

Create assets. That’s what businesses do. That is their currency. My business creates assets, that is, earns money by effectively obtaining widespread and relevant publicity for our clients. Personally, however, my currency is the satisfaction I feel when one of my clients’ products lands on the front page of a prestigious magazine or on the top of its website. I feel that way because it takes skill, savvy, and creativity to make that happen. As a businessman, however, the processes and procedures that I’ve developed to produce and deliver my services most effectively and profitably is my currency. One of the processes I created, for example, allows me to spend as much time on a project as needed because my income is based on the average of many projects, not on hourly fees. It is a win-win for clients and me.

This essay was stimulated by a very engaging conversation I had with a highly skilled commercial photographer and dear friend who is also an artist. I can relate to that viewpoint and consider my business to be my art. Perhaps that’s why I explained satisfaction as my currency. My personal currency is the pride of achievement plus the long-standing client relationships lasting 49-years as the owner of my business. My business currency, though, is creating assets. Those assets are hard dollars resulting from my expertise. 

So, what is an artist’s currency? An artist's currency refers to the value or medium through which they exchange, gain recognition, or achieve fulfillment in their work. It is not monetary. An artist's currency can take many intangible and tangible forms, depending upon their personal needs and motivations. They might include their ability to influence and provoke thought or deep feelings, recognition, reputation, and legacy, or self-expression and self-discovery.

Healing and catharsis is also an artist’s currency. For me, writing my book, Success and Self-Discovery was very cathartic. It put my career and life in perspective and provided me with a better understanding of my personal journey and the choices I’ve made. But it also serves as a story and guide to help others grow and transform in order to achieve their personal and professional goals. The wealth of positive feedback that I’ve received from readers is my currency as an author. Obviously, I’d like to sell millions of books, but that’s a marketing and business function; separate from the healing, catharsis, and satisfaction of having written and published it. What’s your currency?

What’s Keeping you from Real Success?

In her 1980 book Overcoming the Fear of Success, Martha Friedman described her “Family Olympics” paradigm which is a metaphor that refers to the way in which families can unintentionally create an environment that promotes competition and undermines support among family members. She had a history of creating roadblocks for herself until she was 56 years old and I feared I was on the same track back in 1979. My company’s rise was meteoric. After starting with only $300, within 10 months we employed 10 full-time people and within three years had 2,000 accounts with a very high percentage of repeat business. But, rather than being elated, I became depressed.

I began to question my interest in the further development of our sales force and also began to understand why success had created problems for me. In Freidman’s book she explains how she was categorized and labeled a certain way as it related to her siblings and parents. And the reason that she didn’t excel and become a doctor until she was 56 was because she allowed the paradigm to govern her life. The family forces to keep you in place are extremely powerful and when you permit yourself to grow beyond them, it creates a lot of friction from all of the affected family members.

My book, Success and Self-Discovery describes my journey from the US Air Force to college, to San Francisco for a couple of years and finally to becoming an entrepreneur. That’s where the real story begins. I ultimately built a million dollar company and take the reader through the trials, tribulations, and transformations that I faced in real-time because I saved every appointment book and my personal journals since 1976 which had contemporaneous notes. Amazon book reviews say that I’m a great storyteller with amazing detail and that’s exactly why.

For anyone who was belittled by their parents or other authority figures and labeled in a way that created low expectations and even lower self-esteem, both of which have kept them from realizing their full potential, Success and Self-Discovery is a must-read. I describe how I overcame many unexpected and unbelievable personal and business obstacles in order to lead a more fulfilled and profitable life. I tell how hiring my brother almost doomed my business and how my key man tried to steal my business while I was an Ambassador to South Korea for the International Rotary Foundation. At the same time I include invaluable how-to sales, marketing, business, and personal advice that will help everyone.

You will read entertaining stories about the specific steps I took to transform my business from one that pleased others to one that made me truly fulfilled. This business memoir is a testament to the power of determination, innovation, passion, resilience, and luck. Hopefully it will help people avoid some of the pitfalls and painful mistakes that I’ve experienced throughout my own entrepreneurial journey. What’s keeping you from real success?

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Bigger Isn’t Always Better

Growth has traditionally been synonymous with scaling and the expansion of operations in business. However, a paradigm shift is underway; challenging the ideal that scaling is the sole path to success for entrepreneurs.

Scaling involves enlarging a business’ infrastructure, workforce, and customer base. While it can lead to impressive sales figures, it also requires substantial resources, risks, and potential pitfalls. Every entrepreneur has to define what growth means to them. And it isn’t easy when you’re growing dramatically early on. Accountants and other professionals associated with a business often apply pressure to scale because they’re solely focused on the numbers. The bigger you get the more money they’ll make from you. As if by magic, as your business grows their fees grow.

In today’s fast-paced technological environment where things can change on a dime, agility, innovation, and adaptability are vital characteristics. Alternative ways to grow can include deepening customer relationships and understanding their pain points on a granular level rather than spreading resources across new markets. Growing through innovation by developing new products and services not only appeals to existing customers but also attracts new ones seeking novel solutions.

My favorite path to growth was to be distinct and dominate a niche by creating a fee-per-project-based business. Instead of striving for widespread market dominance, I chose to excel within a niche. Focusing on a specific customer group or a specialized product or service allows for stronger brand identity and increased authority in that particular area.

Growing a business isn’t just about getting bigger; it’s about getting better, smarter, and more customer-centric. While scaling a business does offer the potential for rapid growth, it is not the only path to success for an entrepreneur. Ironically, focusing solely on scaling can lead to stretched resources, compromised quality and service, and a loss of agility. All characteristics which are critical in today’s dynamic business environment.

The bottom line is that as an entrepreneur you have to be true to yourself and the culture you’ve created at your business. Scaling isn’t for everyone. Bigger isn’t always better.

Reframe Your Reality to Produce Results

The first day of training new salespeople began the day after Memorial Day. That Tuesday morning, Sandy Noonan, Henry Michaels, and two other people began our training program. That first day I explained everything to them about our sales presentation, the rationale, etc. and why it was important for them to learn it word-for-word. The analogy that I gave them was that of traveling down the rails on a train versus driving a car down the highway. With the former you can observe and focus on the environment and with the latter you cannot. So, it was important to be able to focus on your prospect and listen to their concerns. That’s where the sale is made. Naturally, it was acceptable to paraphrase for personal comfort, but not rewrite it. The next morning, we would begin role plays and in the afternoon discuss the telephone sales presentation which would be in front of them when they dialed. We called it “smiling and dialing.”

Sandy had previously worked in an administrative position at a bank and was a 29-year-old woman who wanted an opportunity to get into sales. She was unafraid of straight commissions and knew that she would need to find an entry-level position to make the switch from administration to sales. She really understood what Sales Development Associates was all about and she was smart, enthusiastic, and attractive. On Thursday, their third day, Sandy and Henry began setting up appointments. By Friday morning, Sandy had set two appointments. She was a natural!  

The two other account executives I hired had dropped out by Thursday. Believe it or not, our structured approach was too demanding for them. They didn’t even possess the self-discipline required to learn our sales presentation. One of them sat across from me and attempted to give his sales presentation and it became obvious that he was reading it from his briefcase to the side of him. So, I said, “excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back,” and left my office. But, when I returned, instead of going back behind my desk, I sat down next to him and asked him to continue role playing his presentation. He got all befuddled and we agreed that he would be better off employed elsewhere. If you don’t have the self-discipline to learn your sales presentation, then you aren’t going to be successful as a salesperson.

At the end of that Thursday, Sandy came into my office and started to cry. Sobbing mercilessly, she explained that she had never sold before and was petrified to go out on a sales appointment by herself the next morning. My schedule wouldn’t allow me to go with her, but what I did do, however, was give her one of my best pep talks ever. I said, “Sandy, I’d like you to imagine something for me." “Okay,” she said as her whimpering began to subside. “Stop and imagine that you’ve been selling for 10 years and that you had personally sold over 1,000 accounts! How would you feel then? Would you be scared?”  She replied, “No, of course not, I’d feel confident and just go out and sell them.” I said, “of course you would! Feel the confidence and remember that you know more about the services we provide than your prospect does. And when you go out tomorrow morning to make those sales calls, I want you to imagine that you’ve been selling for 10 years and that you have over 1,000 accounts, and behave accordingly. Just go about your business and remember, you know more about product publicity than they do. You’re going to do just fine. Go out there and have fun, Sandy.”

Sandy went out that Friday morning and made what we call a one call close. It was her first appointment and she nailed it, pulling in her first order and a check. She went on to set up a second appointment for the following week. We went to that meeting together on Tuesday and made her second sale.

She used reframing to change her attitude and set herself up to win. As they say, “Perception is reality.” The truth is that we can worry ourselves sick and become paralyzed or change our mindset to feel better and more confident so that we can win. The choice is ours. So, reframe your reality to produce results.

The above is an excerpt from Success and Self-Discovery.

External Approval is a Powerful Accelerant, but a Terrible Fuel Source

You can possess the right skillset and still operate with the wrong mindset. That was my experience when I started my business at twenty-eight with only a few hundred dollars, a strong work ethic, and a skillset that happened to align perfectly with the moment. The business took off like a rocket ship. Sales increased sharply, clients multiplied rapidly, and from the outside it appeared to be a textbook example of entrepreneurial success.

Yet internally, that wasn’t the case. Instead of feeling elated by our early success, I became severely depressed. With a dozen full-time employees depending on me, I required several hours of therapy each week simply to ensure I could perform my responsibilities as company president. The contradiction was confusing. I had done everything that conventional wisdom prescribes: I worked my butt off, solved problems, and delivered measurable results. Still, the satisfaction I assumed would accompany success was absent. What I eventually recognized was that competence and mindset are not the same thing. I had built the business with the right skills, but I had not really had a reason to examine the motivations driving me.

At that time, I believed success would automatically generate fulfillment. Experience proved otherwise. Success does not correct an unexamined motive; it magnifies it. Our early meteoric success exposed something I had not yet confronted: I was not building the business primarily for myself. I was driven, in large part, by a desire for my mother’s approval. I wanted her to be proud. I wanted her to be able to point to my achievements as evidence of success. On some level, I believed accomplishment could permanently secure validation.

That belief provided powerful short-term motivation. It fueled long hours and relentless focus. However, external approval is an accelerant, not a sustainable source of energy. It creates urgency but not stability. When early success arrived, the external validation I sought did not produce the internal fulfillment I expected. Without a deeper alignment between my work and my own identity, the achievement felt hollow.

This is where mindset becomes discipline rather than personality. A positive mindset is not cheerfulness, nor is it blind optimism. It is the deliberate alignment of effort with authentic purpose. It requires asking difficult questions: Who am I working for? Why am I pursuing this goal? What does success actually mean to me? These questions are rarely addressed in the early stages of ambition. We are taught skills, tactics, and strategies. We are taught how to win, often with the assumption that winning resolves everything else. Entrepreneurship has a way of disproving that assumption.

My eventual shift did not occur quickly. It required reflection, honesty, hard work, therapy, and a willingness to acknowledge that discipline applies inward as much as outward. When I began growing and transforming the business for reasons that I owned rather than externally performed, the experience of success changed. It became steadier. It became healthier. It became sustainable and felt really good.

The lesson I took from that period is straightforward but not simple: fulfillment is a far more durable fuel source than approval. Achievement pursued for validation can produce impressive results, but it rarely produces peace of mind. Achievement aligned with self-understanding creates both progress and stability. Ironically, I learned this not during a period of failure, but during a period of rapid success.

That early experience shaped the way I think about mindset today. A positive mindset is not inherited, and it is not accidental. It is practiced, examined, and refined. And when fulfillment becomes the fuel source, success has a foundation strong enough to last a lifetime.  External Approval is a powerful accelerant, but a terrible fuel source.

You Become Who You Repeatedly Prove Yourself to Be

For a long time, I believed self-discovery was something you arrived at. That eventually, with enough experience or reflection, clarity would simply appear. That isn’t how it works. Because of that belief, I sat with the book, "Where Do I Go From Here With My Life?" by John C. Crystal and Richard N. Bolles and wrote for several weeks.

Even though it was incredibly poignant and helpful, the book was just part, albeit a big part, of my personal growth. It was huge at the time. However, what I learned slowly and sometimes reluctantly is that identity isn’t something you find. It’s something you build. Not through intention alone, but through action. Through the choices you make when no one is watching. Through the habits you repeat long after motivation fades.

During my entrepreneurial career, most of the days I worked were ordinary and the decisions I had to make weren’t always dramatic. What I did, however, is keep a journal. I would write down the date and time of day that I was making an entry. That allowed me to discover when I was most productive or feeling stressed. My journal entries ultimately formed a pattern. And that pattern became evidence of who I was becoming. It also validated when I was most productive. Unlike the exercise with “Where do I Go From Here With My Life?” that looked back to draw conclusions, the journal was dynamic. It was an ongoing learning experience.

I remember a particular week when the business felt like it was unraveling. Clients delayed payments, a key employee quit, and I questioned whether I was cut out for entrepreneurship. That week’s journal entries were blunt. Frustration. Fear. Then resolve. When I reread those pages years later, I realized something: I didn’t become resilient in a single breakthrough. I became resilient by showing up on days I wanted to quit.

Every choice leaves a trace. How you spend your time. What you tolerate. What you pursue. What you avoid. Over time, those decisions speak more clearly than goals or plans ever will. We often overestimate the power of insight and underestimate the power of consistency. We wait for certainty before acting, when in reality, certainty follows action. You don’t decide who you are and then behave accordingly. You behave, repeatedly, and gradually discover who you are. This is especially true for those of us who take risks and “fake it ‘til we make it.”

Entrepreneurship accelerates this process. Every decision: hiring, firing, risking capital, choosing markets, etc. forces you to act before certainty arrives. The market doesn’t care who you intend to be. It rewards who you repeatedly prove yourself to be

Self-discovery isn’t about asking abstract questions. It’s about observing yourself honestly. About noticing what you do under pressure, what you return to after setbacks, and what you continue to choose even when it’s difficult. In my own life, clarity didn’t come from a single breakthrough, but from repetition. From showing up again, again, and again. From making small, imperfect decisions aligned with values I hadn’t fully articulated yet, but was already living.

Identity doesn’t require an announcement. It doesn’t need reinforcement from others. It becomes real when your actions begin to agree with each other. In the end, we are shaped less by what we say we believe than by what we consistently do. You become who you repeatedly prove yourself to be.

Success Begins the Moment You Take Responsibility

Self-discovery doesn’t start with inspiration. It starts with taking responsibility because only then are you open and receptive to the truth.

The truth is that there comes a time in everyone’s life when excuses stop working. When blaming circumstances, other people, or bad timing no longer explains where you are. That moment is uncomfortable, but it’s also liberating if you embrace it.

The day I accepted full responsibility for my outcomes was the day my life truly began to change. Not because everything suddenly worked out or plans fell perfectly into place, but because I stopped waiting for permission to act differently. I stopped looking outside myself for explanations or approval. It had nothing to do with my skillset, but it had everything to do with my mindset. Responsibility, I learned, isn’t about guilt or self-criticism. It’s about ownership. The moment you accept that your choices matter, you regain control over the direction you’re headed, even when the destination isn’t yet clear.

Many people confuse responsibility with burden. In truth, it’s the opposite. It’s the release of helplessness. You may not control every event, but you always control your response and that response, of course, shapes your future. That shift in understanding changes everything.

In the back hallway of my home is a piece of artwork with a sailboat and text that says, “You can’t change the wind, but you can adjust your sails.” That’s what taking responsibility for your own behavior is about.

Self-discovery begins when you stop asking, “Why did this happen to me?”
and start asking, “What will I do with what happened?”

London Mums Magazine Reviews Success and Self-Discovery

When London Mums Magazine reviewed Success and Self-Discovery: An Entrepreneur’s Memoir of Growth and Transformation, its editors highlighted a theme that connects deeply with their readers: reinvention.

“For many London mums, the idea of reinvention is not theoretical. It is lived daily. Careers pause, shift, restart, or evolve alongside family life, changing priorities, and unexpected challenges.”

In her thoughtful piece, Monica Costa explores how the memoir’s lessons on purpose, resilience, and starting again resonate beyond business. She writes that the book “charts a life shaped not by privilege or shortcuts, but by resilience, curiosity, and the willingness to start again.”

The review captures the essence of Steve Stroum’s story, an honest journey from a spare room startup to a thriving enterprise built on integrity and persistence. Rather than offering a glossy view of success, Success and Self-Discovery balances professional achievement with personal honesty about burnout, recovery, and growth.

“This balance, achievement paired with vulnerability, is what sets the book apart from many traditional business memoirs.”

The article also highlights praise from Writer’s Digest and Midwest Book Review, underscoring the book’s broad appeal to entrepreneurs, professionals in transition, and anyone re-evaluating what success means at different stages of life.

For readers exploring career reinvention or new chapters of purpose, London Mums Magazine’s review offers a meaningful introduction to the memoir’s message that growth is rarely linear, success is personal, and starting over is always possible.

Read the full review here:
👉 London Mums Magazine – A Memoir of Reinvention: Steven M. Stroum on Entrepreneurship, Purpose, and Starting Again

He Gained Confidence and Got a Big Raise

My wife’s nephew, raised by a drug-addicted and alcoholic mother, had a really tough upbringing and never learned how to succeed. Ultimately he moved from Arizona to California and has been working hard to get his life together and be a good husband and father to their two children. I’m proud of his motivation. He’s a security guard and a hard worker. Earlier this year we became re-acquainted and I sent him a gift copy of my book. The result was a text he sent me that read, “Took some advice from your book, got me $36,000 more a year for my contract. Thanks for sending it to me.” 

“I was thrilled that my book empowered him and know that it can empower others,” that is extremely gratifying,” said Stroum.

Writer’s Digest Review

This book places itself well in a specific niche for those of the entrepreneurial spirit and mindset. The lessons Stroum shares from his life and his business processes will be relatable and valuable to folks with a similar mind frame and who are looking to create their own opportunities. He tells these experiences well and thoroughly. I found this book to feel instructive while remaining open and honest about what life actually looks like for someone, like him, who has chosen not to follow the more conventional path for themselves and to instead make their own work and their own way in life. That will connect well with readers. Folks in business book clubs or on their own entrepreneurial adventures would enjoy this read and benefit from Stroum’s experiences.

This book is exemplary in its voice and writing style. It has a unique voice, and the writing style is consistent throughout. The style and tone are also consistent with or will appeal to readers of the intended genre.

— Writer’s Digest

Thinking about your own business in 2026?

If you’re aspiring to become an entrepreneur or leaving your corporate job to start your own business, this book is for you. It is a business memoir that explains how I got started many years ago and gives you lots of personal development advice and helpful business tips too.

“Success and Self-Discovery” can inspire you to make 2026 your best year ever!!

Nothing Happens Unless You Make a Sale.

Many years ago when my photographer visited my office, he was discussing his services with me and was really not that effective. However, I saw through it. He was a fantastic photographer and we began discussing his future. He told me that he wanted to be in business and create images for clients. When I asked him about his marketing program he had a deer in the headlights look on his face. “What marketing program,” he asked.

I explained to him that if he is going to be in the photography business then he has to understand that he is a businessman first who provides photography services. As a businessman he has to create a marketing plan, lead generation activities, make sales calls and the like. These are things I teach thoroughly in my book.

How to create an effective sales presentation and learning how to execute properly is critical to your success as a small businessperson, regardless of what products or services you provide. Why? Because nothing happens unless you make a sale!

This is Why

This plaque is at Bud ‘n Mary’s fishing marina in Islamorada, Florida. I’ve been able to enjoy bonefishing there for the past 45 years because of entrepreneurship. Read these words from Theodore Roosevelt and think about it. Think hard. How do you want to live your life? Success and Self-Discovery is my story and I took control of my life. You can too!

Freedom and Free-Enterprise

Abraham Lincoln Got It. I opened one of my favorite books, The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life and found three quotations from Abraham Lincoln that are apropos for the new year, especially if you’re thinking about starting your own business in 2024

1.   “You can’t escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”

      – Abraham Lincoln

2.  “Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; it is a positive good in the world.  That some should be rich shows that other may become rich and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.  Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus, by example, assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.”

      – Abraham Lincoln

3.  “The prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages for a while, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him.  This is the just, and generous and prosperous system which opens the way to all, give hope to all, and consequently energy, and progress, and improvement of conditions to all.”

     – Abraham Lincoln

President Lincoln explained simply why free-enterprise was essential to freedom and to improving the quality of life for everyone. Republicans lead more effectively on this philosophical argument…  Abraham Lincoln got it!