“It is more work listening to you make excuses than doing it myself.” These are the words going through my mind. In the article “Message to Garcia, Will You Deliver?’ A World of Underachievers: The Curse of the Average Organization” Have you ever asked an employ or even a child to do a task and it is easier to do it yourself than go through the” hoops” to get them to do it?
“You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting in your office—six clerks within call. Summon any one and make this request: ‘Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio.’ Will the clerk quietly says, ‘Yes sir’ and go do the task? In your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions: Who was he? Which encyclopedia? Where is the encyclopedia? The ability to execute is more valuable than education or talent because it is far rarer. Was I hired for that? Don’t you mean Bismarck? What’s the matter with Charlie doing it? Is he dead? Is there any hurry? Sha,n’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself? What do you want to know? And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him try to find Garcia and then come back and tell you that there is no such man.”
This is why I like to work for myself. Finding someone who honestly gives a full hour of work is rare. I have found that by hiring out for the tasks that they can accomplish quicker than me is good business sense. This gives me more time to do the things that I excel at.
I think of sports. I like individual sports. Such as wrestling. When wrestling if you lose a match, it is on you. There can be many variables, but if you find yourself on your back, shoulders touching, you are pinned. No one else is to blame. I am not a wrestler, but my boys are and I enjoy watching and cheering them on.
This is the same when you own your own business. When there is a mistake it is your fault. Such as finding yourself on your back and scrambling to get it fixed. If you are up to working extra hard and all kinds of hours, getting little recognition and you aren’t afraid of failure, then you may be up to being an entrepreneur. If you fail and get pinned, join the club. Get up and get ready for the next match.