Burn the ships
Burn the ships
I knew from a very young age that I wanted to blaze my own trail. In my youth, I was an avid outdoorsman. We had a camp in the middle of the forest, and I spent most summers there when I was not working. I remember on more than one occasion getting lost. I used to follow animal tracks for hours, and the next thing I knew I was lost. I loved getting lost. There was something primal about having to find your way back home that thrilled me. I loved how my mind would jump between fear and confidence. This thrill seeking started around the age of 10.
Fast forward 20 plus years. That boy still gets lost, yet I have my compass to guide me–my internal compass with my Faith as true North. My first venture in entrepreneurship was learning to live off the land. I made money in high school trapping animals and catching crawfish. Yes, I am that country, and yes, I grew up near where Swamp People was filmed. Post college, I went to work on rigs. I loved taking a helicopter 250 miles out into the middle of the ocean, and then sitting atop a floating vessel drilling a hole > 5 miles below the water. It was a rush. I loved hearing the announcement of the level of gas that was coming up when we drilled into a new formation, and if we did not have the mud at the optimal weight at any point, the whole damn thing could burn down.
All of the previous adventures in business were relatively safe compared to 2017. In 2017, we pushed in our chips. We took our 17 years of savings and jumped into starting our companies. This time it was not just me. My wife and daughter were right there with me. I was leading us into the woods and betting that I could get us out. It took a little over 1.5 years before the money was burned. The cash in a bank account allowed me to be overconfident. It is not until you draw down to less than $100 that your breath is taken away. When I talk about this point with other entrepreneurs, there is an understanding between us that words cannot describe; this is the bottom.
Lead, follow, or get the f**k out of the way; there is nothing like hitting the bottom and having to really fight for survival. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It is vicious. It brings out the best and the worst; all of your insecurities are multiplied. Yet, this is also the time when your primal instincts kick in, and your mind begins to do beautiful things. You learn to survive! This is when I really learned to sell; I learned to close; I learned to get the money.
