A startlingly simple way to be comfortable with living like an entrepreneur is to use patience to approach the process. Building a business is a process. Rushing it is possible but exceedingly stressful. To illustrate this point it is appropriate that we call upon Joy’s experience in building her restaurant business.
Joy was a girl who liked men. She never really felt like she needed to own one as long as there were a few loose ones around her. She always attracted more than her share of loose characters. In all the time I knew her that never got in her way. In fact she turned it into an asset. Joy was half owner in a small beer joint when I met her. She had tried marrying the guy who owned the other half but that had lasted a really short time. He was now a silent partner in the business. She let him drink there as long as he kept his mouth shut.
Joy liked to cook but her kitchen in the bar was limited to a small grill and a microwave that worked part of the time. She decided to do something about that problem. It took her a couple of years to figure out how to do that. She talked about remodeling the bar for that long before she took action.
When she noticed a project going on in a nearby restaurant she moved into high gear. Joy went down the street to where they were taking out all of their old equipment. She bought all of the used stuff up for a few bucks. We all helped her move it into her little back room. Then two of her customers put it all together for her. That took months. Joy was patient.
When the kitchen was finished she could just turn around in it. The permits in those days were handled more informally. The health inspector was happy enough to pass her changes without much fuss. She kept things clean and made a nice meal or two for him to show how nicely the whole thing worked. He took to hanging out there with the rest of us. At least he did until his wife found out about his new habit and cured him of it. I don’t know how she did that; but whatever she did it worked.
Joy now had her kitchen. But the bar was too small for the number of tables she needed to make it pay really well. The little bakery next door was owned by an older couple. Joy was patient. She wanted that space for her next expansion.
A couple of years later the couple finally decided to give up getting up at three in the morning to do their baking. Joy cajoled the landlord into fixing it up for her. There was just enough space for her new dining room. That took a few months. Around then she applied for a full liquor license. Her silent partner couldn’t afford to put up his share of the cost for expanding so he took a smaller share in the new operation. Eventually she bought him out entirely. Joy was patient.
Today Joy owns a restaurant that seats three hundred people. Her employees include her former partner and a couple of her former customers from the beer joint days. Joy still likes to keep a few spare men around in case she needs one for something. But then Joy is still really, really patient.
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