Big Red Car here. So the weather in the ATX has improved just a bit today. Ahh, still not that sunny weather we’re looking for, Mothah Nature, you got some ‘splaining to do here.
So The Boss has had a recurring conversation with some of his brilliant CEOs.
It goes something like this.
Brilliant CEO: “Well, I’ve finally launched/raised money/made a profit/seen sales double/made a prototype/reached market product fit and I’m busier than ever and getting a bit overwhelmed with all that I have to do. I feel like I’m drowning.”
The Boss to Brilliant CEO: “Well, WTF did you think success was going to feel like — a vacation in the Turks & Caicos? Hell, no, catching the pick up truck of success means more hard work, not less. Sorry about that.”
This creates the “drinking from the fire hose” with a thimble phenomenon. It gets messy when you are successful. Because now you have to capitalize upon that success.
The lament is common, sounds exactly the same and is like a graduation exercise.
Good news
Success will be fleeting and if you fail to capitalize upon it, it will be moving to another zip code near you very quickly. Believe me, you will miss it. So you have to capitalize upon it when it is rosy faced and in puppy love. While it still laughs at your jokes and wants to spend the night.
You WILL live through the experience. Like that hot salsa you put on that tortilla chip BEFORE you got your water or iced tea? This too will pass. [Pro tip: Never, ever try the salsa when out of town until they bring you your drink. Promise you on this one.]
Lots of folks have similarly lived through the experience. You will also. This is the business you chose when you decided to become an entrepreneur. Like the scene in the Godfather. “This is the business we have chosen.”
“Someone put a bullet in his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it. I wasn’t angry… And I said to myself this is the business we have chosen. I didn’t ask who gave the order because it had nothing to do with business.”
Success breeds complications. This is the business YOU have chosen.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
Love this. It’s so true that success breeds that feeling of “drinking from the firehose.”
I think that’s largely driven by the fact that you haven’t had time to systematize things, automate the parts that are manual, and train your team to step up and take over what’s working, so you can get back to inventing what’s new.
That’s a cycle that will always exist, and the self awareness of where you’re at in that cycle is key.