The ledge…

Some months back we talked about the ledge that entrepreneurs must learn to face when running a business. This ledge leads to a precipice of despair and loneliness. It leads to crushed dreams and to financial future ruins. This is a ledge we don’t want to face, but one that we must. It is an event that no entrepreneur wants to face nor accept but it is one that I welcome with open arms and heart, because it means that the end of things as we know it is near.

Once you fall, you can’t get back up. It means you have exhausted your resources, closed your income avenues and declared that you have failed, not only to yourself, but your colleagues, to your friends, to the not-so your friends and to the trade. This is right about when you are realizing… maybe this whole thing was not such a great idea. Maybe I should have said ‘yes, sir’ or ‘no, ma’am’, maybe just maybe I could still be not concerned with all these problems.

When things come to an end, you rest and your pressure is relieved.  Now, let’s be clear, the end does not necessarily have to be negative. The end signifies the lack of existence of current conditions as they are today, whether good or bad. I am that guy that is actually pulling myself to the ledge and forcing myself to look down on it. I am that guy that is not afraid to say I failed and I am certainly that guy that is willing to go broke, twice over to get the satisfaction of not failing.

So in essence, the end of bad times is coming soon. I believe that our plans and our business will continue to flourish as it has now. I will have to make adjustments and some changes, as cash flow will compel me to do so, but I will not for a second lay off the gas pedal and will continue to do what we are doing. We are still here and we will be here for a while.

So sorry to disappoint our frenemies and so glad to communicate this to our good friends.  Sometimes, the heat of the battle does not let us distinguish who is who, – but I will fill you in on a secret: friends are scarce, good friends even scarcer, and I know who they are and I know they are nodding their heads right now and saying, yep that is me. Thanks for the continued support and well-wishes and to those who have not helped, I thank you as well, in a non-sarcastic manner, for making this adventure real and full of challenges. If it was easy, it would be no fun, and I don’t like things easy, as you well know…

Keep Calm and Stay Humble…

Wasted Time…

As we continue to find the right balance for our business we find that there are endless possibilities to what we can do.  They all require one thing in common, that is the ever-precious, non-renewable, natural resource of time.  You waste it, you can’t get it back.  Some would say that reading this is a total waste of time, or that taking the time to write it is a waste – everyone has a different appreciation of it I guess.

One thing I do know is that time in a new business is not only wasted daily but also we sort of build up a reserve to waste time in the future.  Highly inefficient.  This has to do with the broad-scope approach of taking a look at everything and the trying to be everything to everyone.  It has been proven, by many wiser than I am, that you need to focus your resources on defined areas and this way you will not waste time.

Just yesterday a good friend invited me for breakfast and we talked for about 90 minutes.  It took me about 30 minutes to get there and then waited a brief 10 minutes as well.  We had a terrific conversation about life and some business was  mentioned as well.  At the end of the reunion, I hurried back to my office and was backed up all day.  I got out at 630pm and went to see my kids at the pool, where I was pleasantly surprised to see another friend and we talked for another hour.  You could say that I wasted time.

But I will differ with the experts and tell you, in my own humble know-it-all way that no time is wasted if you pay attention and consider the possibilities.  This friend of mine proposed a project that is out of what I want to do, but at the same time, put my imagination to work and I think that I can actually help him, help me and help some customers.  Just the day before I wasted time going to Dallas and I met another friend who was talking to me about a project that, guess what, we would be able to help him resolve his problem.  And on top of that, I truly believe that we can make it work (based on our limited info) with critical mass achieved quickly as well.

If I had not wasted time going to Dallas and wasted time going to talk to breakfast with my friend and wasted more time thinking about this in the pool, then this whole blog would have been a waste of time. As it is, it is now a project to consider seriously and hopefully I will have time to develop it.

Keep Calm and Stay Humble…

Choices

As I was looking at a beautiful baby girl in a flight back from a business trip today, I quickly realized that I missed my children. I transported myself to when my youngest kids were babies and I remembered, regretfully, that as a frequent traveler, I lost so much precious time with my children – all 4 of them and my wife as well.

I have been fully aware of this since those days, but now that I see things differently as changes keep hitting me, I could not help but tear up and ask myself why I had so very few recollections of my kids in their infancy.  Well the answer is simple:  I was not there most of the time.

The choices I made I can never take back. I have such a good relationship with my 4 kids that I only wish I could had more time with them to enjoy all of their talents and adventures.  But if you think about it, I just told you that I was on a plane coming back from a business trip, which had me 3 days out.  I have been preparing for this trip for the last 10 days of non-stop and stressful activities, and I have been pretty much in another world these last 10 days I have been at home. Needless to say, I was at home and at the same time I was away.  So is it really the fault of my years traveling that I lost so much time, is it really the fault of my choices professionally or is it just that I am so tired and probably don’t remember my name anymore (I actually do remember it very well.)

None of this is the answer; all I can come up with is that my choices were correct and that my memories are the ones I have. So be it. I can’t change what happened, good or bad; I can only expect that my future actions will lead me to spend more focused time with my kids.

I can only expect that our business decisions will be the results of the choices we have made so far. I know that we will have great results and that these last two weeks will deliver a great future.

I lost more hair this week than usual and had some great headaches, but I was proud of my team, my kids and my wife for the way they supported my choices. Now we wait for the results which should be grand.

Keep Calm and Stay Humble

Headaches…

This week was week of headaches.  Got a lot of good things going on, but as life is always complex, business becomes complex as well.  And nothing ever comes easy; in this case, things that were right there to be grabbed are slowly drifting away and some things that were already gone, all of a sudden are here and closed up.  Unbelievable. The roller coaster of emotions keeps surprising us.

One thing I must admit is that as things develop and progress, one’s imagination starts to wander.  You start losing focus as stronger and more important deals come in.  I am sure this happens to all, but it must be controlled.  We have some very good current customers and the team and I are trying our hardest to stay focused on servicing them and our principals.  We have hired another person and are committed to making sure that our original partners stay well-serviced.

Another thing that is happening is that the complexity of the projects is increasing and although I am up to the challenge, my time is being greatly constrained.  I have no problem with hard assignments or with complicated scenarios (I can make the simplest things really complicated) – but let’s be honest, it takes more time to solve a differential equation than to add fractions.  So, I am going to have to delegate some things I do not want or hire another person.  The fact that I am broke as a doornail kind of makes it difficult for the second option to happen, so I am guessing the first one will have to work…

The good thing is that I trust my partners and I know they can do whatever is requested from them.  I will have to spend some time educating them on the new duties, but all in all, as we know, part of the fun of work is learning and it keeps things interesting. If I can’t delegate, then I am the one that has an issue.

Kids are out of school and they are flip-flopping our schedules. Now let’s try and enjoy the summer break with them and let’s make sure I do not forget to write a blog because I am supposedly having too much fun.

Keep Calm and Stay Humble…