I'd Rather Be the Fisherman

After 16 years in this business my goals went from getting a good job in the trades to turning Streamline Craftsman into an remodeling enterprise.  Not sure if that is the male ego in me or if having a successful company sounded fun, but nonetheless this is what I have been steering Streamline towards.  And frankly having great success in doing so.  It's amazing how quickly it's grown!

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!  

Change

After living in Chicago for the past 8 years I never thought I would see the day that I would be moving back to the suburbs.  And not just THE suburbs, but right next door to the very suburb I grew up in!

Moving to the city was one of the biggest and best decisions I have ever made.  Being there truly made me who I am today and that is something I am very proud of.  But its funny how life works out.  One day we (my fiance and I) are looking for condos in Humbolt Park, dreaming of being close to the actual park where we can walk the dogs and avoid crack dealers.  And the next day, quite literally, we find our dream home in Glen Ellyn of all places.  And now I dream of grilling on our deck and having a peaceful meal outside with our dogs in a fenced in yard.  It’s amazing how dreams can change so rapidly.  But these new dreams come with some nightmares.  And not the nightmares you get in the city.  You get used to worrying about being shot or potentially male rapped while walking home.  I wake up in cold sweats now with thoughts of going to Costco followed by lunch at Chilis but then having to rush home because I spilled special sauce on my Dockers.  Does a pastel colored polo shirt and deck shoes come with the purchase of a new home in the suburbs?

Change is something I never feared and always embraced and for my first time I have fear for a change.  But when I sit down and think about this change, I end up with a smile on my face.  After 14 years in the construction business I have never had the opportunity to renovate my own home.  The smile I have put on homeowners faces for years is now on mine.  I finally get to make a home, my home.  And I get to share that home with an amazing women that lets me think I get to remodel things the way I want.  Together we are going to make her design dreams come true, my remodeling dreams come true and ZERO of our nightmares come true.

Change.  It’s not so bad.  When it comes with a yard and a garage.