Minding My Own Business

Ron is a successful business owner.  Our story relates back to when Ron was in the formative stage of his business.  He was working for Acme and thought that he could make more money by working for himself.  To start his business he had to work his way through all of the fundamentals of management.  He was lucky—he had help.  70% of all businesses fail in the first 5 years and of those that remain, 70% of those don’t last the next ten years.  The lessons that he learned then still apply to his current operations.  So let’s flash back to five years ago.

Ron wants to start his own business.  He has always talked about it but has never done it.  He was good at what he was doing at Acme and assumes that he can run a business better than the people that he has seen do it.  How hard could it have been for a high-paid CEO to lose millions of dollars in a quarter?  Ron feels like he could have run that business and lost a million less!  Ron has also seen small businesses run by people with absolutely no clue.  Yet some of the clueless are making more money than Ron so why shouldn’t he give it a whirl?

So Ron decided to take the plunge.  He has given his notice and he feels ready.  He is excited.  His wife is proud.  The kids are oblivious.  It seems like the entire world believes that he is doing the right thing.  His anticipation seems to make his present situation at Acme even worse.  Cancer of the attitude has sunk in.  Ron knows the industry, he knows his customers, he knows how to produce a quality product—the rest is simple, right?  The big day has come.  They gave him a nice party after work yesterday and now he is on his own.  Ron awakes with a slight hangover and rolls over towards the window.  He notices that even without the security and routine of his old job, the sun actually comes up at the same time.  The kids still go to school.  His wife still leaves for her work.  Everything is the same except Ron.  He never knew how quiet the house was.  In a panic he thinks, “What do I do now?”

For years Ron has been employee but not today.  He doesn’t have a job.  He knows that the people at work will survive without him—shoot, six months from now they might not even remember him!  After he gave his notice his boss found a replacement within a day.  He thinks about going back to visit but quickly changes his mind.  For years Ron has been told what he should do all day but not today.  Today he gets decide for himself how to spend his time.  At Acme Ron had a job.  He knew exactly what he was responsible for but today that isn’t so clear.  What is Ron’s new job?  What is Ron responsible for?  Ron now owns his own business.  He is the chairman of the board of directors—for that matter he is the board of directors!  He is the chief executive officer and he is the sole employee.  He is the salesman and would be the janitor but he doesn’t yet have an office.  Mostly he is overwhelmed.

So Ron gets out of bed, gets dressed and decides that first he should go to breakfast.  Nothing like food to clear your mind—and besides he could run into Grace.  At the counter of the local diner he orders without even noticing the man sitting next to him.  Sipping his coffee he waits for his eggs—over easy with hash browns.  Finally the man next to him speaks.  “You have either run away from home or are starting your own business.”  Ron is startled.  “It is the “deer-in-the-headlights” look that I once had” he continued.  “Well you are right—I have quit my job and I am starting my own business—you really knew that?”  The man was silent.  Nothing more was said until Ron’s mouth was full of greasy hash browns.  “I am leaving today but give me your email address.  You need my help.  My name is Tom—that’s all you need to know.”  Not really knowing why, Ron scribbled his email address on the napkin without speaking slid it around the wet spot on the counter to Tom.  “I will be in touch” Tom muttered as he rose to leave.  “You need help.”  Ron finished breakfast and went back home.  His chance meeting with Tom had left him confused and somewhat irritated.  Without waiting to see if Grace was working, he called his lawyer from his cell phone and scheduled a meeting for that afternoon.