Once upon a time, a barber named John realised that his boss was not the sharpest blade in the drawer. He sat around barking out orders and could not even cut hair as well as he did. Whenever clients came, they demanded John and would rather wait for hours until it was their turn.
Then he decided, to hell with working for someone. I am quitting to start my own barbershop. But he was unsure. So he sat on the fence for a few weeks, until one day, his boss yelled at him for not sweeping the floor properly. On that day, he stormed out of the shop, forgetting to raise his middle finger.
The following morning, he wrote messages to his customers, telling them he would be starting his own shop down the road. Many of them replied with congratulatory messages, promising to follow him in his new venture. With a spark of hope and glee, he got up and looked for a shop.
To his surprise, the rent was much more than he thought. But he had savings, so he paid double the deposit to get his perfect spot. Then there was plumbing. He called Peter the plumber, his dad’s friend, who agreed to do the job at a good, family-friendly price.
After that, he turned his attention to furniture. For this, he asked his friend Calvin the carpenter to outfit his shop. However, Calvin fell ill halfway through the job, which delayed his reopening. While waiting for Calvin’s recovery, John hired a secretary, got signage, applied for Wifi, bought a till, registered his company, set up a website, and, since he no longer had an income, used what was left of his savings to pay for his personal costs as well.
By the time Calvin returned, John had run out of money. The shop was not ready, salaries and other overheads were due, and some of his best customers had turned to other people. He sat down in his empty shop, tormented by the echo and half-done furniture. He took a deep sigh as expenses kept piling up while income remained scarce.
Now in a quagmire, John realised that running a business is not cutting hair. He also realised that passion only gets you so far, and that something else must keep you going.
Make things happen.
Share: If you know someone who should read this post, please share it with them.
If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to get notified about the next post and to receive additional tools like book recommendations, checklists, and tested frameworks.
Subscribe to a weekly dose of ideas about strategy, ethical leadership and innovation.
