Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2024 i Entrepreneur Magazine

YOU’VE HIT a wall. Maybe it’s an idea that won’t work. A pursuit you were rejected from. An effort that failed. Now you feel stuck and frustrated. I’ve felt it too—but I learned four simple words that help me move past it. I think they can help you too. To appreciate them, I’m going to take you back in time. The year is 2005. Kara Goldin and her husband Theo were making a lightly flavored, all-natural beverage in their kitchen. They called it Hint Water, and they thought it had potential. But when they tried to mass-produce the drink, they hit a problem. Kara writes about this in her book, called Undaunted. Her husband tried to find a manufacturer for the drink, but everyone said it was impossible: They couldn’t…

Breed bugs. Just like this dad who makes $30,000 a year If you don’t get squirmy around creepy-crawlies, try breeding insects! Crickets, Dubia roaches, and mealworms are all easy to cultivate, and lizard-owners never stop needing to feed their reptiles. Jeff Neal learned this in 2016, when he bought his daughter a bearded dragon. He was shocked by how expensive crickets were, so he researched how to breed them himself. “It was really easy, because crickets are rampant breeders,” he says. So rampant, in fact, that he had a surplus to sell. Neal created a site on Shopify and promoted it on reptile-owner forums. There were challenges—keeping crickets alive during shipping is tricky. But when the pandemic arrived, “It seemed everyone bought a bearded dragon,” Neal says. “All the local pet shops…

Nick Loper doesn’t just teach the art of side hustling—he’s a side-hustler himself. In 2006, while working a full-time gig at Ford Motor Company, he launched a website that recommended footwear through affiliate links. After six years and about $10 million in sales, he turned his attention to another side hustle: an education company called Side Hustle Nation, which teaches others how to build and run—you guessed it—side hustles. Here, he answers users’ most common questions. Side hustles take a lot of time and work. What’s the key to staying motivated? First, choose one you’re excited to take action on. But also, when I ask this question to guests on my podcast, they often say, “I was afraid to stay where I was. It pained me to ask my boss…

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A CELEBRATORY LUNCH—THE KIND WHERE YOU ORDER FRENCH FRIES AND CHEESECAKE, THEN GO HOME TO NAP AND DON’T EVEN FEEL BAD ABOUT IT. Instead, Stacey Abrams and Lara Hodgson were sitting in an Atlanta restaurant, dazed with disappointment, talking in circles, returning again and again to the same confounding question: How did we not know this? It was 2010, and three years earlier, the women had cofounded a company called Nourish, which made grab-and-go baby bottles filled with premeasured, purified water for easy formula mixing. The company had been finding its legs, one wobbly step at a time. Then, Whole Foods placed a huge order of their product. “It was, like, orders of magnitude bigger than anything we’d done before,” Hodgson says. They were ecstatic. This…

According to the latest Global Innovation Index (GII), Japan is the 13th most innovative country in the world and the fourth most in its region. Dubbed a ‘world innovation leader’ in the 2023 GII, Japan ranks as part of a select few high-income countries that are performing above their development level, scoring highly on key parameters like business sophistication (11th globally), infrastructure (13th) and institutional environment (11th). Japan’s retail industry is integral to its economic stability, contributing 10% of its GDP on average. Remarkably, the industry experienced no overall dip in annual sales during or after the COVID-19 pandemic, instead hitting a decade-high JPY 154.4 trillion in sales in 2022, up on JPY 150.46 trillion the year before, according to Statista. Given Japan’s past experience with deflation, fixed-price stores –…

Major Japanese stock indices have reached their highest levels in decades and foreign investment is growing, according to a recent report by investment bank Goldman Sachs. The bank noted that these trends are supported by domestic macroeconomic growth, a price breakout after years of deflation, and accelerated corporate governance reform. It concluded that the outlook for the Asian giant is more favourable than it has been in the past, benefitting active investors in particular. Indeed, the bank noted “a meaningful shift in investor sentiment”. It identified particular benefits for Japanese companies with ample foreign exposure, given the exchange rate situation, with the yen trading at levels not seen for nearly two decades. In this affluent, health-conscious society, the gyms, health and fitness club market is large and flourishing, generating estimated…

With the stars aligning in 2023 to unleash a multi-decade-defining performance across Japan’s equity market, observers around the world believe 2024 will be no different. Goldman Sachs, for instance, forecasts the TOPIX index – which tracks domestic companies listed on the Prime division of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) – to rally by 13% by the end of the year, “boosted by solid global economic growth and stock market reform.” Beginning in 2015 with a new corporate governance code for ‘growth-orientated governance,’ recent announcements by the government and TSE to reform the stock market have put Japan’s listed companies under more pressure to adapt to international standards, increase their valuations, and enhance their ROE. So far, their response has been incredibly rewarding for shareholders: According to BlackRock, share buybacks and…

For global businesses expanding into Asia-Pacific (APAC), Japan’s exceptional trade infrastructure and extensive catalogue of free trade agreements (FTAs) make it the ideal choice. From Kansai International Airport, located in Osaka, businesses can easily access major Asian markets, including Seoul in under two hours and Shanghai in under three. Japan’s FTAs also cover key markets like the USA and the EU, and the country is the world’s fifth-largest exporter and the fourth-largest importer of goods, according to the World Bank, with foreign trade accounting for 37% of its GDP. Boasting automotive giants like Toyota and Honda, Japan is currently the world’s third-largest producer of cars. Behind the scenes, Japanese carmakers are supported by an army of world-class logistics providers who work tirelessly to ensure the entire supply chain runs like…

Japan’s economy will pick up pace in 2024, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit – echoing widespread optimism about the world’s third-largest economy. Tourism is one of many sectors rebounding after the covid-19 pandemic, with inbound visitor numbers exceeding pre-pandemic levels in October 2023. With its red and white logo recognised globally, Nippon Rent-A-Car welcomes them. The company was founded in 1969 and now has 17 subsidiaries. It is backed by two leading Japanese businesses - Tokyo Century (with an 89% stake) and airline ANA (11%). “We have two unique aspects,” says Norihisa Fujiwara, Nippon Rent-A-Car’s president. “Firstly, the variety of vehicles in our fleet. Secondly, we own all our locations across Japan, which no other company in the industry can claim; the others operate franchise systems.” This is a…

Japan is one of the world’s most inventive nations. According to the latest Global Innovation Index (GII), Japan files the most patent families per billion of GDP (PPP) of any country in the world and ranks fifth for the percentage of GDP spent on R&D. In their relentless pursuit of innovation, Japanese firms generate a constant stream of live opportunities open to foreign investors, backed by a dynamic investment climate, a globally harmonised legal system, and a sandbox approach to new technologies and business models. Japan’s construction industry is a central pillar of the economy, generating around 5% of its GDP, according to Statista. Demand has remained robust over the past decade, largely driven by reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake and major events like the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.…

This year, we at Entrepreneur published the 45th annual edition of our Franchise 500 ranking. As we celebrate that milestone, we also want to recognize the franchise brands that have been on this Franchise 500 journey right alongside us for the longest, claiming spots in the rankings year after year after year—including three that have ranked in every single Franchise 500 from the very beginning! Those three brands, along with 47 others that have ranked for the past 25 years or more consecutively, are what we call our “Hall of Fame” franchises. We recognize them on the following pages, along with our “10+ Club” franchises—brands that are on their way to future Hall of Fame status, having ranked 10 to 24 years consecutively. We also share some thoughts from a…

Sometimes, building the life you want requires a big risk. That’s what Keri Gardner realized when she cashed in $100,000 of her retirement savings to buy a franchise. It was November 2020, and she had just been laid off from her executive role at a health company. A franchise recruiter called her and asked, “Do you want to work for anybody else?” Gardner replied, “Absolutely not. I work really hard. I want to do it for me.” She was passionate about the environment, so was drawn to Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions. The company, which has 127 franchisees in 348 territories, cleans fryers in commercial kitchens and filters impurities from their cooking oil so it lasts longer, swaps out the oil when it’s spent, and recycles oil for use in biofuels.…

1/Design that beats the competition “The food delivery space is extremely crowded, and our competitors have raised over $20 million each, while we’ve never raised a Series A. So we couldn’t rely on huge media budgets or celebrity endorsements. Instead, we focused on the aesthetics of our experience, so that photos or videos of our food would grab people’s attention on their Instagram feeds. Our meals are packaged in reusable glass jars with millennial-pink lids, and reusable oval, pastel bento bowls that look like Easter eggs.” —JULIE NGUYEN, cofounder and CEO, Methodology 2/Design that reflects your customers “Because we intended for our pots and pans to be sold globally, we wanted to use shapes that felt familiar—yet new—in the East as well as the West. So we took our favorite…

1/A smartphone stand that follows you. Tired of doing video selfie-style? The Belkin Auto-Tracking Stand Pro with DockKit [$180; belkin.com] acts as your personal cameraman. On video calls with Zoom, TikTok, FaceTime, and others, the dock holds an iPhone magnetically while charging it, while you dial in the perfect tilt position. Content creators can use the iPhone’s Apple DockKit tracking feature to rotate and tilt the Belkin, keeping your face focused in the frame automatically, whether in portrait or landscape mode. 2/A palm-sized AI transcriber. Want to record a conversation and transcribe it? You usually need a recording device, and to then send the audio file some-where. But not with the Plaud Note [$159 plus $10/month subscription; plaud.ai], which is a credit-card-size recorder that automatically transcribes whatever you capture (and…

TACTIC NO. 1/ Find a partner in another industry. If you have marketable skills, but you aren’t sure how to spin them into a business, try teaming up with someone from an entirely different industry. Together, you could pinpoint opportunities for innovation. That’s what Gene Caballero did. Back in 2012, he worked in sales at a Fortune 500 company, and started talking with a childhood friend who’d built a landscaping business. They came up with an idea—a platform to connect homeowners with lawn care professionals. Caballero would run sales, while his friend navigated the industry. They called their company GreenPal. “We devoted countless hours to cold-calling vendors to join our platform,” Caballero says. “We even set up a kiosk in the mall.” At last, in 2017, GreenPal started making consistent…

With its world-famous tourism industry, robust manufacturing, and flourishing financial services sector, as well as an agriculture base that ranks in the world’s top-15 exporters, Thailand boasts an enviably diverse economy. It is also a dynamic one - a recent report by global professional services firm Deloitte forecast that private investment will play an important role in driving GDP growth in 2024, with major investments in electric vehicle and electrical appliances and electronics manufacturing in particular. Investor confidence in Thailand has been strengthening partly thanks to the energetic leadership of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who has been traversing the world promoting his country. His government has pledged to increase Thailand’s annual growth rate to 5% in the medium term. To this end, it has provided support for farmers and small…

These past few years have been witness to an extraordinary economic renaissance in the world’s third-largest economy. From cost-cutting and sluggish to dynamic, growth-orientated, and rocket-fuelled by active investment, healthy inflation, and a high-flying equity market, Japan has become the ‘buy’ of this decade. According to Morgan Stanley, nominal growth – which gives a clearer picture of Japan’s economy than real growth – reached 5% in 2023, its highest level since 1991. For comparison, Japan’s nominal growth averaged just 0.2% between 1995 and 2020. Likewise, inflation has kept above the Bank of Japan’s 2% target for the past 18 months, incentivising businesses and households to switch from saving to investing. Recognising the opportunity, global investors are piling in. According to Nikkei Asia, foreign holdings of Japanese stocks have jumped to…

Amidst the global drive to decarbonise, Japanese businesses are paving the way with world-class environmental research, market-leading sustainable technologies, and tactical ESG investing. According to Nikkei Asia, Japanese companies’ environmental spending is set to increase by 45.8% this fiscal year (ending in March), bolstered by the government’s lucrative green stimulus funds and the country’s escape from deflation. Japan’s shift towards a net-zero future represents a wealth of untapped potential for investors. “We believe mainstream ESG investors have not yet looked into this space,” says Morgan Stanley, “from a market perspective, global investors are still underweight in Japan.” Inbound investors will find Japan’s appetite for ESG investing reflected in a broader trend – the rapid creation of new business opportunities owing to a change in attitudes amongst the younger generation. Japan’s…

After years of deflation, Japan is experiencing its fastest price growth in over three decades and has “convincing emerged from three decades of stagnation,” according to Morgan Stanley. On the level of businesses and people, expenditure and consumption trends indicate the long-awaited reversal of a ‘deflationary mindset.’ Younger people, especially, are more willing to accept price increases without changing their consumer behaviour, enabling businesses to be more assertive in price-setting and capital spending, a recent report by Lazard Asset Management found. In short, 2024 is the year Japan will finally be able to flex its economic muscle. For inbound businesses, Japan’s full health economy is the perfect backdrop to the country’s advantages as an innovation and logistics leader. Japan’s transport and logistics capabilities rank fourth in the world and first…

Japanese companies are geared up for more transformative mergers and acquisitions, global consultancy Bain wrote in its 2023 M&A report. It noted that financial investors are well-positioned to buy, while Japan’s private equity market remains hot; funds created to invest in Japan are growing, and many Asia-focused funds are shifting their attention to the world’s third-largest economy. Interest rates have also remained relatively low. This wealthy market has one of the world’s largest “wellness economies”, totalling $241bn and ranking fourth in the world, according to the Global Wellness Institute. High levels of disposable income, a cultural tradition of health and wellbeing, and an aging population all support this growing industry. It is these factors – and particularly demographic change – that have driven the growth of Curves Holdings, which operates…

Buoyed with confidence by the return of inflation, record wage growth, and low interest rates, foreign investors have made one thing clear: Japan is Asia’s most liquid “not China” buy. Their outlook is boosted by several key factors, including shareholder activism, governance reforms, and examples of strength in times of crisis. “The Japanese economy is resilient, undervalued and becoming more productive,” stated the Bank of America, praising the country’s response to the January 1 Noto Earthquake. Japan’s recruitment industry is one of the largest in the world, valued at over JPY 1 trillion, according to Statista. Over the past few years, the industry has experienced substantial growth across four key sectors: dispatching, outsourcing, job advertising, and placement services. Worth about JPY 696 billion in 2021, according to Statista, job advertising…

With external demand strengthening and inbound tourism recovering to pre-pandemic levels, Japan’s government has raised its economic growth projections for FY24 to 1.6% in its latest twice-yearly economic outlook report. In nominal GDP terms, the government projects a 3% rise in FY24, bringing it to a record USD 4.29 trillion. Japan’s rich cultural heritage and diverse geography have made it one of the world’s most visited tourist destinations. Consequently, Japan’s hospitality industry is now worth a staggering USD 25.06 billion, according to Statista, and comprises around 90,000 hotels and accommodation sites. As tourists seek low-carbon travel options, the industry has become an eco-friendly north star for other international tourism hotspots to follow. With 172 branches nationwide, Super Hotel is on a mission to inspire low-carbon, eco-friendly travel to Japan’s top…

“Asia will be the furnace in which a new era is forged,” according to global consultancy McKinsey – and Japan, as the continent’s second-biggest economy, will play a central role in this. The key engine of growth is likely to be services, which account for around 70% of Japan’s GDP. The world’s number-one weather information service, Weathernews Inc. epitomises the tech-intensive, innovative best of the Japanese service sector. Providing services to companies and people active in variety of sectors including sea, on land and in the air, it combines a vast database with an array of value-added advisory products. The company aims to realize the dream of “Saving the lives of sailors. Saving the future of our planet too.’’. “We operate globally in the ocean segment, for air currently we…

Miri Offir knows how to talk to people in crisis. After serving in the Israeli military, she came to the U.S. in 2003 and took a secretary job at the post-disaster recovery franchise 911 Restoration. She worked her way up—eventually becoming the company’s CEO in 2022, now overseeing 291 franchises. So when Offir stepped into a leadership role at 911 Restoration, she already knew some changes she wanted to make. It had long bothered her that when people called the company, their experts stuck to “just the facts, ma’am”—even if the person was clearly traumatized. For example, a mom would call, sounding upset with babies next to her, and the 911 Restoration expert would only ask how many inches of water were in the house. Was this person cruel? No,…

1/KFC INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +2,010 2/7-Eleven INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +1,980 3/McDonald’s INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +1,016 4/Pizza Hut INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +631 5/Burger King INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +554 6/Dunkin’ INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +320 7/Dairy Queen INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +259 8/Subway INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +242 9/Gong cha INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +241 10/Taco Bell INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +223 11/RE/MAX INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +162 12/Coverall INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +157 13/Church’s Texas Chicken INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +134 14/Anytime Fitness INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +125 15/Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +92 16/Swensen’s Ice Cream INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +87 17/Papa Johns INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +85 18/Circle K INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +77 19/PostNet INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +73 20/Wendy’s INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +70 21/Hampton by Hilton INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +68 22/Cinnabon INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH +61 23/Petland INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE GROWTH…

If you’ve been hearing a lot about side hustles lately, you’re not alone. The term has slipped into our common consciousness in recent years—so much so that Merriam-Webster added it to its dictionary in 2022. “Side-hustle is a word on the move,” the entry says. “Although the precise definition of this term is still in a bit of flux, it appears to be centering on ‘work performed for income supplementary to one’s primary job.’” “In a bit of flux” is right. As you’ll see on the following pages, having a side hustle means many things to many people. Some rely on the extra cash to pay their bills, others want a fun hobby that makes a little money, and still others want to build an entirely new business or career.…

Stefan Gehrig’s side hustle was doing well—and that became a dilemma. The Melbourne, Australia-based entrepreneur had started a gym bag brand called Knkg, also known as King Kong Apparel, in 2011. It began as a side hustle that scratched an entrepreneurial itch untouched by his academic day job, then grew into his full-time business. But by 2021, he’d hit a wall: To scale up, he needed resources that he didn’t have. Meanwhile, in Miami, investor and former PayPal executive Keith Rabois had just helped found a startup called OpenStore, which acquires Shopify stores with growth potential. Gehrig heard about OpenStore, but wasn’t interested in selling Knkg. Then, in 2023, the startup launched another offering called OpenStore Drive, which lets Shopify owners retain ownership while handing off operations to OpenStore. That…

Ranked the third most competitive ASEAN country in the IMD’s latest World Competitiveness report and located in the heart of Southeast Asia, Thailand offers foreign businesses a wealth of world-class investment opportunities. According to the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board (OCSB), Thailand is the world’s second-largest exporter of sugar, behind only India. Reflecting strong global demand for sugar, the value of Thai sugar exports rebounded quickly from the pandemic, amounting to USD 3.17 billion in 2022 after USD 1.6 billion in 2021, according to Statista. Founded in 1945, Khon Kaen Sugar (KSL) is one of Thailand’s leading sugar producers and the long-term supplier of choice to global. KSL offer high-quality sugar meeting international standards as well as other by-products to industrial customers (B2B). The company is also behind…

Japan is one of the world’s best enablers of talent, according to the latest Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GCTI). It also ranks top worldwide for youth access to growth opportunities. With its densely populated cities and natural disaster risk, Japan’s civil engineering industry plays an integral role in the country’s growth. According to Statista, the industry registered around JPY 25 trillion worth of investments in FY22. And as the government continues to invest heavily in construction projects, demand for specialist firms is rising. Established in 1951, Pacific Consultants is a leading construction consultancy based in Tokyo. The company has worked on some of Japan’s most challenging projects, motivated by its vision of a brighter future. Pacific Consultants began in Delaware, USA, but established its Tokyo branch soon after. Aligning with…

“Japan is at a turning point”, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a grouping of affluent countries, noted in a January 2024 survey of the country’s economy. The OECD noted that the Asian giant is on track to meet its 2% inflation target, while rising wages, government subsidies, and a new fiscal package will help drive growth. It also highlighted Japan’s efforts to meet its climate goals through green investment, innovation, and carbon pricing. It is little surprise that Japan, one of the world’s most innovative and knowledge-intensive economies, is taking a global lead in developing hydrogen technology. In 2023, the government announced a revised hydrogen strategy that foresees investment of more than $107bn over the next 15 years to boost its hydrogen supply and support the shift to…

Last year, Japan’s stock market reached its highest peak in over three decades. This year, observers are optimistic it could go even further. Lazard Asset Management, for one, says now “is an excellent opportunity for investors to re-evaluate their portfolio weightings to Japanese equities, considering the extremely positive longer-term structural changes underway.” One such change lies in how Japanese businesses are being run. A new generation of C-Suite innovators is challenging the status quo and helping to undo decades of entrenched underperformance. Their efforts helped Japan move five places to second on the Asian Corporate Governance Association’s 2023 ranking. Courage is also back in style across the nation’s boardrooms. Management buyouts – where a company’s management team purchases its assets – are accelerating at their fastest pace since the 2008…

Following a record-breaking performance by its stock market, Japan topped off 2023 with a third straight quarter of improving business sentiment as its largest firms continued to grow more optimistic. In the Bank of Japan’s final ‘tankan’ survey of the year, sentiment amongst Japanese manufacturers rose significantly to plus-12 – up on plus-5 in June – indicating the long-term return of domestic and overseas demand. Entering 2024 on a high, Nikkei Asia has reported that capital investment by large Japanese companies will hit a record JPY 31.9 trillion by the end of FY23 this March. Fasteners – whether bolts, nuts, or screws – are used in almost all manufactured products and several key global industries, including the aerospace, automotive, and shipbuilding sectors. Around the world, Japanese International Standard (JIS) screws,…

As Japanese businesses look to drive new growth amidst the country’s declining workforce, demand for technologies like artificial intelligence is soaring. Since the government’s launch of the Regulatory Sandbox in 2018 – which allows businesses to develop and test novel ideas without the limitations of existing regulation – projects from over 140 businesses have been approved, ranging from FinTech and healthcare to AI and IoT. Similarly, digital transformation (DX) is now one of the biggest priorities for Japanese businesses. The domestic market size of enterprise software alone totalled USD 9.88 billion in 2023, according to Statista, whilst revenue in the IT services market is forecast to surpass USD 100 billion in 2028. Founded in 1987, Yokogawa Rental & Lease gives firms across Japan unrivalled access to the latest IT devices…

Japan can expect steady growth ahead, while the central bank will move towards normalising interest rates in 2024-25, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Asian giant produced 534,900 tonnes of secondary aluminium in the first nine months of 2023, according to the Japan Aluminium Association; recent media reports have shown that demand from the automaking sector in particular is growing. Since its founding in 1992, SUS has tackled aluminium as a material and repeatedly challenged and revolutionised its use. As a result, the company is an internationally-known brand, and the global market leader in aluminium extrusion frames, among a range of products it offers from factory automation devices to architectural products. Already present across Southeast Asia, in the United States, Europe and China, the company is eyeing further international…

Japan’s net worth has reached an astonishing JPY 3.999 quadrillion, according to official data released in January, marking the highest tally since 1994 and the seventh straight year of growth. With inflation also at a four-decade high, Japan’s economy is now firing on all cylinders. Such a strong recovery has brought old industries back into the fold, most notably semiconductor production. Whilst it no longer leads the world in chip making, Japan’s expertise in semiconductor materials and equipment has led to the re-emergence of a “globally competitive” export industry, according to the United States International Trade Commission. Founded in 1969, Miyatsu has been a partner company of Hitachi for many years, gaining experience in manufacturing crossbar switches, mainframe computer peripherals, and CVD and Furness equipment. In addition, it is currently…

When I was 17, I founded a company to save police officers’ lives. We distribute and manufacture body armor and other protective equipment. And yet, I will admit: For the first eight years, this work felt abstract—like watching war unfold on the nightly news. I understood its importance, of course, but it wasn’t personal. Then, an officer in a nearby town was killed. It changed everything. His name was Louis Pompei. He was 30 years old, served in Glendora, California, and was killed while off duty, as he heroically tried to stop a grocery store holdup. We’d never met, but we had many mutual friends. When some of them invited us to his funeral, my wife, Melissa, and I immediately accepted. We were joined by our late friend Joe Bale,…