What makes you tick?
Today’s Saturday and I’m at the office. Some people reading this are probably wondering why and shaking their heads.
It’s one of the many “freedoms” you get to enjoy as an entrepreneur.
Truth be told, if you want to make significant money, consistently, and have a lot of time off, then this life isn’t for you. As a startup founder, you’re never looking forward to the next two weeks for monetary reasons. It’s not “payday” in your mind, but “payroll day,” which means you better have your ducks in a row to ensure that your people get paid…
The perceived glamor of “being your own boss” means just that. It’s a subtle but misunderstood reference to being in charge of your own destiny. I used to watch my Dad get up every morning, seven days a week, make his coffee at 6 am, get ready, and be in his small shop, opening the door around 7:30am, and get busy. He never took a day off unless he was in the hospital. Watching him do so, day in, day out, set something in motion that never changed.
Just as you can think back now, on your time in school, where all you had to do was get decent grades and not get caught goofing off too much, being your own boss will make you laugh at the times when you thought being an employee was hard. It’s an evolutionary principle for driven-people to want to progress. The employees who ask for more, even when they’re not quite ready, and never seem to shy away from charging towards the promotion. I know I was that way.
As a kid, I was always trying to get ahead when I played Judo, practicing for the next belt, readying myself for the next tournament. As a young soldier, I couldn’t wait to go to Ranger School so I would be in the next societal rung of “tabs.” As a tabbed Specialist, I couldn’t wait to become an NCO. When I became a Sergeant, I wanted to lead a Platoon, instead of a Team and Squad. As a contracted team member in the intelligence community I couldn’t wait to plan and manage operations. As the operations manager for over a dozen highly specialized and phenomenally capable people, while being in-charge of planning, managing, liaising, and analyzing operations, I wanted to become a Staff Team Leader. In the private sector I didn’t want to remain a junior anything. I was rapidly promoted into management and leadership roles beyond...
See a trend yet?
My life has always progressed along those lines because I’ve never taken my foot off the gas pedal. I have, with two exceptions, been promoted ahead of my peers, but at some point, it became apparent to me that I was chasing something I just wasn’t finding. Then Joe Rare and I started our company, Zero Hour Media.
I’m now at the top of my own food-chain which posed an interesting conundrum. What to chase now? There’s nothing to chase regarding promotion, which provides me the freedom to focus on the present, and the future as I decide to shape it. And that’s been the most surprising transition. It’s not about me, not at all. It’s all about everyone else.
Focusing on our team and ensuring that they have everything they could possibly need. On my co-founder Joe Rare and making sure he is actually getting that “sleep thing” down. On our clients, because we are going to deliver them growth-leverage. On what really matters, where we are taking this company, how fortunate I am to contemplate the “founder’s dilemma” and stressing over minutia. The true professionals that I get to lean on when I am unsure about my azimuth like Chris Story, Brian Duff, and George Taylor. To continue to evolve my professional/personal intersection connection with Justine Evirs, David Smith, Dan Savage, Sonny Tosco, and many other veterans charging ahead in life.
I’ve worked harder for this than just about anything else I have ever tackled in my life. The best part is that I am not doing it alone. While I’m writing this, a good friend of mine, Manny Parra has been up since 6 am working out the details for the Green Beret Foundation’s first ever San Francisco event in November. Our company was chosen to do the marketing and video production leading up to to the event, which is a tremendous honor and challenge. We are going to go at it hard and deliver beyond any expectation the foundation has ever had.
So while we’re discussing marketing strategy and hashing out the video content creation plan, I can’t help but love the fact that I am sitting in a building, which houses some of the best team members we could ask to join us on this journey. My dog Axel is snoring next to my desk, dreaming about who knows what, but he’s not chasing anything, and neither am I.
Saturday’s at the office aren’t that bad now, are they?
