It was October 15th, 2004 when I left my last employer. As I've said many times, I loved the company I worked for, but hated working in IT and in 2002, I got a boss I considered an unholy nightmare.
My luck was due to change. From the time I joined the company in 1993 until 2002 when my favorite boss retired, I had an uninterrupted streak of 3 awesome managers to work for. I can't speak highly enough of both the corporation and the managers who ran it.
2004, that all changed and I was hanging out my shingle as an entrepreneur. Or, as some folks label us, a "frantrapraneur" since I bought into a franchise system.
It has been such a wholly positive experience for me that I honestly can't say enough good things about it. Everything I had ever hoped to get from owning a business, I have gotten in greater measure than I would have hoped.
This is not to say that there are no challenges. I have frustrations and nail-biting times just like any other person. Who doesn't? But the frustrations are smaller and the nail-biting times are more than offset by the times when things are good.
Financially, this has been a slam-dunk. I'm not rich... or maybe not rich-rich. However, I'm more comfortable than at any other time in my life. I am truly blessed to be able to provide my son with opportunities that many folks would, but can not provide.
I have been, so far, able to provide him with what most parents hope for: greater resources and opportunities than those I was given as a child.
Since opening my doors, I have never made a late payment or missed a payroll. That's not always easy and I wish I could say it gets easier every year. It doesn't. Revenues have tended to increase, but so have expenses. So, when we stumble, we just stumble on a bigger scale than before.
However, at a time when so many people are feeling the negative impact of the recession, I am truly, truly fortunate that at least so far, I am not.
The best part? Being in business for myself has given me a lot of space, personally, to try to move closer to the person I want to be.
This business has become more than just a livelihood. It has become, in many, many ways, the way in which I give back to the world.
A well-run business produces wealth, but it also produces jobs. We just added our 13th employee, and by the time Christmas rolls around, we'll be adding as many as 4 more. That means 17 families will be positively impacted by my company.
I've come to cherish my employees and everything they do for the company. This long ago ceased to be "mine" and operates day to day as "ours".
I remember years ago going to the Servpro convention and hearing folks gush about the positive impact Servpro has made in their lives.
I figure there are other franchise systems out there. Maybe some that are better than this one. I just don't know of any offhand.
The longer I'm in the Servpro system, the more I like it. It has truly changed my life and my fortunes, and the financial implications are the least of the positive benefits I've enjoyed so far.
With any luck 5 years from now, I'll be posting another short blog on how great my time has been.
Until then, there's payroll to meet and people to employ and customers to delight. If I can keep the right people in the right places, maybe we can navigate this crappy economy and come out in the recovery better and stronger than ever.
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