I received an email from a friend yesterday that read:
I’m doing the hardest work of my life, it’s drowning me.
Scaling up, trying to figure out production, etc etc.
I’ll either be where I want to be in a few months, or bankrupt.
No way to know quite yet 🙂
He recently acquired a sailing supply business on the opposite side of the country from his first here in Portland. In the process, he landed a contract with one of the largest sailboat providers in the world to build their boats.
In one fell swoop, he took on two huge challenges. Which is typical of him.
Several years ago, we were having drinks and talking shop and he told me he was trying to buy a competitor’s business. I asked him how it was going and he said, “I told the owner that if he wanted to sell I’d get on a plane today and fly down with a check in hand.”
A trait that I’ve noticed in many veteran entrepreneurs is aggressiveness. It’s not a hustle work ethic or reckless gambling, rather it’s a drive to realize change ASAP. Once they come to a decision, they commit to it posthaste.
A visited a psychic for fun last year at the end of a personal retreat. She told me my fortune and said, “When the opportunity arises, you need to move…” She chopped her hand through the air and then said, “Decisively. No hemming or hawing. Just action. You know what I mean?”
I just smiled and nodded. I’ve often thought that the epitaph I aspire to be inscribed on my tombstone would read, “He didn’t fuck around.”
Featured image is Masamune forges a katana with an assistant (ukiyo-e). Used under public domain.