Last Bean on the Table

Last Bean on the Table

Have you ever heard a motivational speaker say that if you haven’t been bankrupt at least once in your life you haven’t tried hard enough?  Even “The Donald” (Donald Trump), or perhaps I should say especially Donald Trump has been bankrupt.  You don’t really have to go out and file bankruptcy to prove that you have been trying hard.  Playing it safe is working 40 hours every week and having your Saturday and Sunday off, plus your earned vacation for that special two week a year family time, not to mention your 8 hour earned sick leave monthly.  Actually that sounds idyllic. I mean that with all sincerity, if that is what you have through life, you are definitely blessed.

If someone walked up to me, and made me an offer of exactly that I would jump at it.  Matter of fact I have been blessed to have had that all of my life.  But, and there is a “but,” you might by now have learned to expect that from me. But, I have always had the entrepreneurship spirit in my blood.  Entrepreneurship Spirit is a wonderful thing, but it’s more like an addiction.  And once again there goes the light bulb over my head; I just realize that I am addicted to two things in life, my wife and the entrepreneurship spirit.  Please note that I’ve never said that I accomplished any level of success on my own and/or by myself.  I’ve always given credit to being blessed.

I suppose that most people involved in business do it the hard way, they elect to jump in with both feet, and without a safety net.  I on the other hand always wanted the security of a paycheck for my family, plus the business success to get more than just my family’s needs met, I wanted to get my family their wants.  One of my children asked me when he was in middle school, if we were rich, and my answer jokingly was we would be if we didn’t have all of you guys.  In fact we have always been well off because we appreciate every blessing that we have.

Business always requires investment, usually a mix of money and labor, if you don’t have money investment; you are fooling yourself because all you are doing is trading labor hours for money. I can remember times especially near Christmas when I would be waiting for a payment from a customer to come in so we could secure a better end of the year.  We had already delivered the goods, but the customer had to follow up with payment after billing.  It wasn’t always that way but enough times to keep it real.

My whole life I have enjoyed gainful employment, and business success at a level that I am extremely grateful for.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if I could live my life over I wouldn’t change anything.  I learned from the negative and enjoyed the positive; once or twice I’ve had a lemonade stand to put the lemons life gave me to good use.  The best is yet to come….