08/06/2024
Starting a small business is as hard as anyone thinks, but harder.
The nights you don't sleep bc you only dream about work, which then turns into not even dreaming anymore when you do manage to get to sleep after taking some sort of sleep-aid.
The days you start early so you can get to a kids sporting event, but those days typically end just as late bc something has to always happen.
I even drove to Memphis to establish a footing with a reputable pool dealer bc everyone in this area sucks and every pool company on the coast sucks just as much. Bc of crappy pool distributors customers get frazzled, and the anxiety builds even higher.
The amount of "friends" that are there to offer themselves up for labor is amusing, but when the labor gets hard they run off. "Friends" on FB reach out for pool prices but then run off when they see that construction isn't cheap, let alone pool installs. Not to mention you're held to a higher standard than most.
The stress that boils over into the home is the hardest part. You try to not let it consume you when it's really hard, but it'll leak out some way or another.
Then there is me: not your typical business owner, but then again who is? And I'm left wondering how the guys do it that are actually running big time corporations, not some tiny LLC. How do their families handle it? What sacrifices are they willing to make? And all of sudden the perspective I have has now changed to what does it take for me to get that far?
So anxiety now turns into motivation. "How can I save more money to turn back towards the profit?"
"How can I jam these jobs into one another so that we can make space for these jobs in the winter?"
The "mamba mentality" shows its face, and I begin to remember why I do this & why I started this company. I remember my roots and where I've come from; my how far away I am from those prison cells! Not just far as miles, but far as in time; far as in maturity as well.
Because in the end of it all, "PRESSURE IS FOR THE PRIVELEDGED." & Ohh, how lucky am I to be my own boss? How lucky am I to be in control of my own fate? Bc someone somewhere would kill for my "problems". I damn sure wouldn't be where I am now if I was still working for a company building someone else's dreams.
"If you see me in a fight with the grizzly bear, then you better check on the bear."