“No revolution ever started on a full stomach”
Those gold coins weigh you down, and it happens in staffing just as much as it does with tech startups. They keep you from making that last round of sales calls, from filling that last hard-to-fill job order, from giving up a Saturday morning for an interview with a great candidate.
When I started my airline software business in the 1980s, I had literally nothing in my pocket and was ready to do whatever it took to make a success. Move to Atlanta and bunk with a Chinese family for two years. Not a problem. 18-day sales trip to India and Finland away from wife and bed. Not a problem. Code 16 hours a day. Not a problem.
Now I’ve got some of those gold coins and for sure they weigh me down. I hate to get on planes. Hate to leave my family. Can’t deal without working out and playing golf on a committed schedule.
There’s a staffing conference in London this week, and if I were really hungry I’d be at it. But suffering through immigration at Heathrow and stinky megabuck hotel rooms just don’t do it for me any more.
The truth is that if I were starting a staffing company, I wouldn’t fund myself. I wouldn’t meet my own criteria.
But that may not be you. Maybe you are ready to change the world and create a new great company. In that case, we’d love to hear from you.
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I totally get what you are saying Gregg, and can relate to it…to a point. However, I would gladly have gone to London in your stead, and been happy to “cover” the conference for Staffing Talk. I’m sure the megabuck hotel room, stinky or not, would have been a far sight better than the flat I once rented near Angel tube station in Islington. That area of London is somewhat gentrified now, home to what is called Off West End theaters and the like, but it wasn’t very chic in the 80′s. Next time a session with your trainer, or a golf game, or a desire to sleep in your own bed trumps your desire to attend a far off staffing conference, ring me up.
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