Another Monday. The start of another work week. People tend to hate Mondays coz it means the weekend is over and another long week of work awaits. I’m not one of those people, probably because I like what I do.
In terms of my career, I’ve run pretty much the gamut of possibilities. I’ve worked for giant corporations, I’ve worked for small start-ups, I’ve worked for family, and I’ve worked for myself. All have their positives and negatives. Right now, I work for both myself, and I am also involved in my in-laws’ company. Though I started off as a corporate guy (and growing up that’s what I always thought I’d be), I realized pretty early on that I wasn’t cut out for the corporate life and that my path lay in entrepreneurship. It’s a hard and scary life. And I sometimes lie in bed at night thinking if I made the right decision. I question if trying to make it with my own business is worth it, and wouldn’t it be easier to go back and work for a big company, punch the clock, and get my 15th and 30th. But then I remember why I chose this path in the first place.
My dad was a successful executive – I can even say he was a ridiculously successful executive, and because of his work, we were afforded a life beyond anything I could have dreamed. But I remember him telling me one day, “I work hard, and I’m paid handsomely for that work, but at the end of it all, when I retire, I leave this all behind. For all the titles I may hold, I am basically a hired gun, and when it’s time, I’ll be given a nice separation package, but that’s it. That’s the end.” And that stuck with me. Don’t get me wrong. I am so proud of what my dad accomplished and I am so thankful to him because the reason I am able to do what I do now is because he has given me so much. Words will never express how thankful I am. But now, as I struggle and work hard, and try to match or even out-do my own dad (as sons are prone to want to do), I always go back to what my dad told me – “I am basically a hired gun”. And I realize that my entrepreneurial drive comes from wanting to do something that my dad, despite all his success, could never do. At the end of everything, when I step away, I want to be able to hand over a successful company to my daughters. Now whether they actually want it, that’ll be their choice. But I want to be able to give them that choice.
So to the dads out there who have chosen this entrepreneurial path as well, and, who like me, are still fighting to “make it”, keep your heads up and remember what inspired you and who continues to inspire you. I am more than willing to embrace the sacrifices and hardships now if it means giving my daughters a couple of steps up in life. Afterall isn’t that why a father has broad shoulders? So his kids have a firm foundation to support them as they themselves rise.
Another Monday. Let’s get at it.