Quitting

This is a post for the new category named Rants. Now most of the rants will likely be very abrasive in support of my Vladville alter ego which keeps most of you too scared to call me so I can actually manage to get something done at work. Don’t let people tell you Vlad is nice and you need to call Vlad, I bite people. Often and hard. On the neck.

I love my job.

I love my company.

I am immensely proud of what we’ve been able to build at Own Web Now over the past decade. Every year I look at my company and cannot believe how different we are from the previous year.

But man… I haaaaaaaaate what my job involves. Here is my average work day which by some miracle has left hair on top of my head. I am truly blessed to be the living proof that the evolutionary history of the human species involved monkeys – if my body wasn’t 99% covered by hair, I’d be bald. Either from stress or ripping my hair up or setting it on fire.

Here are my average tasks during the day which have left me at least partially insane and completely disoriented. I am routinely pressed (under critical deadlines) to make decisions about stuff that won’t happen for months or years. For example, I need to approve a flyer today so it can see the light of day next quarter and I’m also expected to pull out numbers out of my ass on a whim – how many people will work in the Orlando office in 2014, how many bread racks you can fit in a 10×10 cage, the turnaround time of a vendor shipping from Texas to Texas and if I remember where I ordered 2 post telco racks 8 years ago.

Now if I lived in the la la land of the future, that would be great! But no – I also need to make decisions on the spot – how much to charge for this, do I want to give client X a call, can we please fire partner B for being abusive to support, do you remember that contract you signed yesterday, was anything in those 36 pages related to transferability of the licensing between companies?

Keep in mind that almost none of this is my job – it’s all done by others in the organization and they just ping me for feedback, advice, review or opinion. So the actual outcome or decision is not something that I would explicitly make on my own.

Then 5 PM comes around. This is typically when people have given up on life and their careers and they write some of the nastiest crap I don’t think they’d ever be able to say to another human being. But you know what, I give everyone my email and my cell phone and never remember to say: It’s not for therapy sessions. If you’re rude to me, I will flat out refuse to help you. Every now and then I mess up and try to help only to get more personal insults flung my way.

Then I sit behind my sports car, slam the accelerator and burn away all my problem.

So what?

Listen, none of us have a perfect job, and I have a pretty kickass one.

The economic downturn has been rough on many companies and things are not recovering – not for everyone, not everywhere.

Every minute of every day you have an opportunity to quit. Many do. Many just struggle with the challenge.

If you’re thinking about starting a business, recognize that the challenge is not just in a dimension of effort and passion, you have to have a very thick skin and incredible level of dedication to the mission – so it better be one you can live with.

Every day I am asked for Quick Guides, Startup Shortcuts, every trick and shortcut that could help. There are none. None. Whatever you cut corners on to get from A to B you will be paying for (many times over) in the future.

Pick up cardio. Weight training. Anything mind numbing and repetitive. It will put you face to face with the option to give up on an almost consistent basis – but will also give you the thrill of accomplishment and moving forward.

Some people are just happy with the comfort. They don’t want to move forward. They are happy where they are. If you want more than that, be prepared to give a lot more than that.