Tuesday, November 14, 2006

When Your Body Revolts

One of my mid-week blog entries usually features marketing blogs of interest. Here’s this week’s:

The Advertising for Success blog researches advertising trends before they become buzz worthy

Ad Jab discusses advertising news, most recently the demise of ad guy.

Business update

I had a reader ask my wife how it’s really going. Is the blog accurate? Well, I’m an optimist. If I kvetched about nagging start-up problems then I’d be no good to anyone, and my bad attitude would carry over into my business. So I try to focus on the glass as half full. Plus it’s PR, who would read this blog and hire me if I was whining all the time? Please. That’s not good flacking.

For the record, I will tell you that starting a company is rough. My body is currently revolting against the workload. Yesterday, I woke up with a bloody nose, then at the gym that evening I enjoyed some heart palpitations. Today it’s been sinus passage aches, sour stomach, etc.

If you don’t like working extra hours – every week – then forget about it. You will fail.

Why so much time? It’s just marketing, right? Wrong. Add in the financial management constraints and worries, new business development (a primary activity, by the way), the need to scale, the management of contractors and staff, etc. Oh yeah, you learn all sorts of new things.

And why work hard to the point of physical pain? The slow season is coming. In the words of Wizards coach Eddie Jordan, “You gotta harvest [those] nuts right now.” And if you can’t take the pain, starting a company isn’t for you. It’s the price of freedom. And I like my freedom. But I must admit, thank goodness, the holidays and my slow season are coming up. It makes things easier to bear.

In that spirit, we’re harvesting. The good news is that we’re also closing the office the Friday after Thanksgiving, and for the week between Christmas and New Years. In essence, we will be taking advantage of the slow period. Owning the business has its benefits.

3 Comments:

Blogger Josh said...

I can empathize. We're in month six of the new firm, and fatigue is always an issue, but somehow the knowledge that you're building something for yourself and your family makes it different than the standard 'agency burnout' I used to feel at this time of year.

2:12 AM  
Blogger Geoff_Livingston said...

Amen. And thank you for reminding me about the common feeling of agency burnout. I forget the agonies of agency employee life now that it's my own gig.

7:25 AM  
Blogger JibberJobber Guy said...

Geoff - awesome. I work out of my home office and don't have any of the past corporate pressures. But the excitement of the startup, owning a business and working for a very demanding boss (#1, as you referred to him), can take its toll! Viva la gym, and try and get some life balance!

8:16 PM  

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