The industry is booming right now and its actually pretty crazy to see. Most of us in this business have struggled a great deal over the past 5 years. People calling around begging for work, myself included at times. And now things are so busy even finding good labor is difficult! Anyone that can actually do good work is doing just that, but on their own. My school of thought has always been never say no. If work comes your way take it! Ill figure out a way to get it done. So this year I have been a yes man per usual and before I knew it I had 4 jobs going on at once. I now am running around all day meeting with clients, managing workers and delivering materials. Then I come home and handle the admin side of things. It's tiring but I was focused on getting through this because I wanted to reach my goal of running my "enterprise".
As I lie awake every night, unable to sleep, thinking about my days and weeks to come, I always felt hollow. Like something was missing. It took awhile for me to realize what it was but finally while having a stress filled venting session to my lovely gal I said: "I'm not having fun. I got into this business because I enjoy it and THIS, I do not enjoy". I love working on homes and providing quality craftsmanship. It was then I noticed that I personally hadn't started and finished an actual project with my own two hands in months! That rant inspired Jess to tell me the story of The Fisherman and the Businessman by Paulo Coelho.
I was working double time so that I could relax one day. But does that day ever come? Am I ever going to be satisfied with the business? Does it one day just get easier? Will I live long enough to ever enjoy the "good life"? Because I feel I have aged 10 years just in these past 3 months! I had a extremely skilled master craftsman working for me last year. He was striving to be the businessman and worked night and day to get there. At 46 years old his heart stopped in his sleep. The world will no longer get to benefit from his abilities...... Do I run that same risk if I keep this up? We can't answer questions like these but we can ask ourselves what we really, really want. Not what we are trained to want, but what we truly want.
I want to provide excellent craftsmanship and customer service. I want to challenge my abilities and use my creativity to give my clients one of a kind remodels. I want to continue my new found passion for building furniture. I want to live, be healthy and be able to appreciate what I have daily, not just in hindsight. I want, to be the fisherman. Hell, I was the fisherman! I just didn't understand what I had and I left his ass at the docks while I pursued "bigger and better" things.
The quality of work we provide is unmatched and I am lucky that people are willing to wait for our services. So from now on Streamline will be taking one project on a time at a time and focusing all our energy on making that job AMAZING. Now those clients will get ALL my attention rather than the dazed looking, mind in 15 other places, needs a drink guy they have been getting. I still have a busy summer ahead of me but I look forward to getting my hands dirty and creating again!
I promise my next blog will be less deep!
