The Beginning of the Entrepreneurial Journey
If you're over the age of 30–34, you’ll likely agree. Why that age? Because you’ve either taken risks or continue to have more confidence in the skills you’ve built over the years.
In May of 1986, it all started—the life of an entrepreneur and a dreamer. I was 15 years old, still six months away from being “legally” able to drive, but that was just a number someone long before me had made up as their rule.
I bought my first business from a man named Cecil, who had always been our town’s “everything guy.” He did it all and seemed decent at all of it.
Cecil owned a small stump grinding business. It was the quiet, boring kind of work that kept him busy and able to buy his Coors Light and Newports. What he did beyond that was a mystery. People back then didn’t concern themselves with others' lives or feel the need to share their work with the world. This was a good 20 years before the internet started changing everything.
So, I ignored all the “you can and you shoulds” and made a deal with Cecil to buy this business from him. Was it really a business? I wasn’t sure. But I did it.
Lessons Learned the Hard Way
I was unsure and lacked any sense of whether it would work. Doubt hadn't been thoroughly ingrained in me yet. No one spent time telling others what they could or couldn’t do. That summer, I made $7,000 in profit, just me, working 18-hour days. I bought the business from Cecil for $10,000 and was able to pay him halfway. We had a four-year buyout plan, and I wanted him paid off by the next summer.
I walked around with a thick wad of cash in my pocket. I made most of the mistakes you can make...spent too much, didn’t budget for equipment maintenance, didn’t account for slow seasons, and worked other jobs to support this one. I bet many of you can relate.
The business was a success, even though I didn’t sell it for a large sum and walk away with a check. I learned lessons that can’t be taught:
- Hard work
- Honesty
- Relationships
- Confidence
- Fear
- Safety
- And much more
But guess what? I didn’t see competition. At least, I didn’t think I had any. I approached realtors, developers, builders, and local business owners. Sure, there may have been another stump removal company, but I didn’t see them. I didn’t consider them. They weren’t me, and the less time I spent worrying about them, the more I could focus on serving my clients.
The Real Competition
This journey led me to do hard things over the years.
Things I won’t bore you with, but life choices and events that pushed and steered me onto the path I’ve followed for almost 40 years. Some years were good, some were flat-out awful, but all of it came from mental toughness becoming part of my DNA early on.
I have started a YouTube playlist about Mental Toughness if you're interested. Subscribe here as it grows.
This journey led me to do hard things over the years.
Things I won’t bore you with, but life choices and events that pushed and steered me onto the path I’ve followed for almost 40 years. Some years were good, some were flat-out awful, but all of it came from mental toughness becoming part of my DNA early on.
I have started a YouTube playlist about Mental Toughness if you're interested. Subscribe here as it grows.
Today, I run a business that’s a gumbo of all the things I’ve learned. I have competition.
Other coaches, educators, and entrepreneurs building tools for restoration experts to be more successful. Every year, I meet new people who are diving into the same field. But I don’t see them as competition. Sure, we do some of the same things, and at times, we sound alike. That’s not surprising since our tribes are all screaming for the same results.
Other coaches, educators, and entrepreneurs building tools for restoration experts to be more successful. Every year, I meet new people who are diving into the same field. But I don’t see them as competition. Sure, we do some of the same things, and at times, we sound alike. That’s not surprising since our tribes are all screaming for the same results.
But they’re not my competition. The competition is me.
My head.
My habits.
My little voices.
My doubts.
My lack of focus.
My energy.
My attitude.
My flexibility.
My truth.
The lies I tell myself.
My habits.
My little voices.
My doubts.
My lack of focus.
My energy.
My attitude.
My flexibility.
My truth.
The lies I tell myself.
Like many people who have built long lists of experiences, successes, and failures, I start searching for new, creative, and dynamic ways to push myself. This is incredible, but it’s also very complex and exhausting.
If you’re a business owner with a brand and a dream, no one can beat you. You have 1,000% control and opportunity every day to listen to your ideal client and do what they love in exchange for their money. That commerce gives you cash flow to fund whatever you dream up next.
If I spend my day watching others in my space, when will I work on improving my own failures? Looking for theirs will only increase mine.
As most know, FOMO = Fear of Missing Out. It’s a harmful condition.
JOMO = Joy of Missing Out.
JOMO = Joy of Missing Out.
This isn’t about avoiding the news or ignoring who hates who today because of their beliefs. It’s not scrolling aimlessly, then stressing because important things didn’t get done. I don’t often know what shenanigans others are up to until someone sends me a text or tags me on social media. Maybe it’s funny, but most of the time, it’s just people stalling themselves. I don’t entertain it.
My competition is me. My ability to focus and do what I say I will. Why? Because when I don’t do what I dream, I get low.
So, what do you do?
Make an honest decision: most of the things and people you occupy your attention with aren’t doing anything that relates to you. They’re probably lost and doing it wrong, or doing things you would never do.
The ability to focus on your own journey is as rare as the most precious metal.
If you don’t build this characteristic, you might spend far too many years in mediocrity, building self-doubt.
Don’t. Please. The world needs doers and leaders.
If you don’t build this characteristic, you might spend far too many years in mediocrity, building self-doubt.
Don’t. Please. The world needs doers and leaders.
Cheer,
-Klark
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