Most people spend their early twenties figuring out what they want to do. Frank Berenyi spent his early twenties running a business. As a young adult, the Maine entrepreneur opened his own martial arts school, his first step into ownership, and the venture that would shape how he approached every business that came after it. Long before he built companies in hospitality, real estate, and retail, Frank Berenyi learned the fundamentals of entrepreneurship the way most young founders do: by being responsible for everything, all at once, with no one else to hand the problems to.
Starting a business at a young age is often romanticized. The reality is less glamorous and far more instructive. For a young owner, there is no separation between work and operations. The same person teaching the class is managing the schedule, maintaining the facility, and worrying about whether enough students will show up next month. That compression everything landing on one set of shoulders is exactly what makes an early venture such an effective education.
