I was talking to a friend today who works in an office. She said she really hates her job, but as long as she makes sure her boss is happy, she’s pretty sure she will always have a job. I told her that’s probably not the only thing she needs to be worried about in this new economy, but, whatever.
She said she only has to please one person, but I have to please everybody. At first I thought “I don’t have to please anybody. I’m the boss.” But after giving it some thought, I realized she was right. As an entrepreneur, everybody’s your boss. And since I’m running multiple businesses that number multiplies greatly. She IS right. EVERYBODY is my boss. And I have to make them all happy.
With the swiggies, wrist water bottle business I have distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and customers. I have to make sure the product can be produced by the factory, is in good quality, and is delivered on time. When the Dublin Marathon ordered 62,000 of them, the factory said they were going to be late getting there. Not acceptable. This time I had 3 bosses, the distributor, the marathon officials, and the end user client. I had to make sure they were all happy so I had the product shipped by air (very expensive) so they would arrive on time. The marathon officials (boss #2) were so happy with the order they placed another one right away. This made my distributor (boss #1) happy. And on the day of the race, the runners were thrilled, which made the end user happy (boss #3).
When I do a speaking event I also have 3 bosses to please. The meeting planner (boss #1) wants to make sure I’m responsible, on time, a good speaker, and not a kook. The association or corporation having the event (boss #2) wants to make sure the speech is relevant to their group, has value for them, and is within their budget. And then I have to make sure the audience (boss #3) is happy with the speech, they learn something from it, and I don’t put them to sleep.
So, if you think you’re going to become an entrepreneur because you don’t like having to kiss butt, think again. A Bob Dylan song comes to mind “Everybody’s gotta serve somebody”. And an entrepreneur has to serve everybody.
But think of all the money that’s going in your bank account and not your boss’s. There now, don’t you feel better?