????布萊恩?史威提的簡歷乍一看就像是一本美國消費產品公司名錄。他在擔任漢堡王（Burger King）的非執行董事長之前，還曾擔任過易趣網（eBay）首席運營官兼營銷總監，百事可樂（PepsiCo）飲料部門的營銷總監，寶潔（Procter & Gamble）的品牌經理。

????2012年3月，他穿過加州莫斯蘭汀的一片草莓地，打開了一座空蕩蕩的倉庫，他到這里來做什么呢？

????史威提回憶道：“我們需要一個地方生產自己的產品，當時我們都是在店面的小廚房里生產產品。我來到這里后，在一片農田中間看到了這幢建筑，據說它是一幢喪失抵押權贖回權的房子。當時門鎖著，我只好把鎖撬壞往里張望，但我發現它對我們來說是個完美的地方。”

????六個月后，這座占地35,000平方英尺的廢倉庫成了甜蜜地球綠色食品公司（Sweet Earth Natural Foods）的新工廠。

????甜蜜地球與漢堡王相距甚遠。這家成立于2011年末的公司主要生產全天然的素食食品，比如蔬菜漢堡、墨西哥卷餅等，另外還有一種被命名為“仁慈的熏肉”的全新產品，它是由蕎麥、紅豆、小麥蛋白和13種調料制作而成。史威提表示：“它是一個對地球來說很友好、對心臟來說很健康，而且完全不必殺戮動物的產品。我對地球的可持續發展一直抱有濃厚的興趣，這筆生意對我來說也是一次救贖。”

????這家公司的增長速度也堪稱瘋狂。剛創立時，甜蜜地球只有三個人：史威提夫婦和百事公司前營銷高管，時任卡爾文公司（Calvin Klein）全球營銷總裁凱利?史威提。但現在，這家公司已經擁有60名員工，公司月收入已達40萬美元，史威提預計今年年底前，公司的月收入將達到100萬美元。

????對那些想辭去高管職位，自行創業的企業精英們，史威提有哪些建議呢？他表示，他從自己多年的職業生涯中總結了三大經驗：

????首先，創業比你預想的要困難得多。他表示：“這還不是我做過的最困難的事，但也差不多是了。在企業界，人們經常討論一些困難的抉擇，但是每個抉擇在小公司里都會被放大，因為小公司既沒有后盾支持，也沒有可借鑒的歷史經驗。模棱兩可的情形要多得多。”

????他特別懷念擁有一個人力資源部門的日子。最近史威提打算給甜蜜地球公司的所有員工一部分股權。公司許多員工的母語是西班牙語，史威提說：“我必須先聽懂他們在說什么，然后把要說的話翻譯成西班牙語，最后表達出來。”另外他還得打消員工們的疑心。“有些人心里難免有些狐疑，不由得猜想‘他為什么要無緣無故給我們東西呢？肯定有什么陰謀。’如果有一個人力資源部門的話，一定會給我幫不少忙。”

????其次，什么事都要親力親為。史威提指出：“在一家大公司里，你大多數時間都在開會。但是在創業公司里，你的公司能否活下來，要靠你的行動。”史威提回憶道，當年自己在百事可樂做高管的時候，“我會設置一個戰略，然后時不時給銷售打電話跟進一下。”但是現在，他認識每一個甜蜜地球產品的渠道商，而且親自回復他們的郵件。

????Brian Swette’s resume reads like a Who’s Who of huge American consumer-goods companies. A former chief operating officer and head of marketing at eBay, he was chief marketing officer of PepsiCo’s beverage division and a brand manager at Procter & Gamble before taking the non-executive board chairman seat at Burger King.

????So what was he doing in March 2012, tramping across strawberry fields in Moss Landing, Calif., to break into an empty warehouse?

????“We needed a place to manufacture our products, which we were making in a small kitchen in a storefront,” recalls Swette (pronounced “sweetie”). “I saw this building, in the middle of miles of farmland, that I heard was in foreclosure. I had to break the lock on the door to look inside, but it was perfect for us.”

????Six months later, the 35,000-square-foot space opened its doors as Sweet Earth Natural Foods’ new factory.

????It’s a long way from Burger King. The company, launched in late 2011, makes all-natural vegetarian foods, including veggie burgers, burritos, and a new line of something called Benevolent Bacon, made of buckwheat, red beans, vital wheat gluten, and 13 spices. “It’s earth friendly, heart healthy, and cruelty-free,” Swette says. “I’ve always had an interest in sustainability. This business is redemption for me.”

????It’s also growing like mad. Sweet Earth started with just Swette and his wife and cofounder Kelly Swette, formerly a PepsiCo marketing executive and then head of global marketing for Calvin Klein. The startup now has 60 employees and, Swette says, a $400,000 monthly run rate he expects to reach $1 million by year’s end.

????What would Swette advise aspiring entrepreneurs about quitting the executive suite to start their own ventures? He says he’s learned three big things from his experience:

????It’s a lot harder than you think. “This isn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” says Swette. “But it comes pretty darn close. In the corporate world, people talk about hard choices, but every decision is magnified in a small company, where you have no back-up and no history. There’s a lot more ambiguity.”

????He especially misses having a human resources department. Recently, Swette came up with a plan to give all Sweet Earth’s employees, many of whom are native Spanish-language speakers, some equity in the company. “I had to figure that out myself, then get it translated into Spanish, and present it,” he says. He then had to deal with employees’ initial suspicion. “They were skeptical, like ‘Why is he giving us something for nothing? There must be a catch,’” Swette says. “I really could have used some help with that.”

????Everything is hands-on. “In a big company, you spend most of your time in meetings. But with a startup, your survival is based on action,” says Swette. In his old job as a top marketing executive at PepsiCo, he recalls, “I would set strategy and, once in a while, go along on a sales call.” Now, he knows every distributor that carries Sweet Earth products, and answers their emails himself.