The first months
in my hotel entrepreneurship I used to work an average of 17 hours from Monday
to Sunday. Crazy, isn’t it? Well, yes, it’s. The worst and most ironic is that
I got no results at all. Unfair, isn’t it? Well, yes again, it’s. But I got a
long life lesson from that: succeeding on running a business is not about doing
it harder but is rather about persistence, strategy and
efficiency. Definitely, I wasn’t superman!
Super
humans that fail in the first fly!
Working
too hard with no strategy definitely is not the answer if you want to succeed in
your business. I believed so now but I didn’t before.
Let
me explain you why.
Business
is more about being smart and efficient, and afterward, but just afterward (!)
is a matter of persistence. Maybe when we prioritize this way we can get the
most out of our persistence and our strong work ethic. Certainly I’m not the
only one praying this way. Please read to the Michael Lazerow's column and get an extraordinary advice to this regard.
We
entrepreneurs (probably young ones) use to think about ourselves as supermen
(women) capable to do anything possible for our crusade. It doesn’t matter
what. Yes, we can (we say!). But let me tell you something: that’s a big, big
mistake. We aren’t super humans: our resources are limited as any other person.
We can’t work 24 hours a day. Definitely that’s not possible and we can’t be
everywhere whenever required. That’s a fact. You’ve better accept it soon and
your chances to succeed will jump.
Everything
is about strategy
I
would describe my current advice as an “efficient and strategical persistence”.
Even though any kind of entrepreneurship would require from you the best and an
extra amount of effort you must always have in your mind that your resources
are limited and you must put your personal resources on those activities you
consider to be the critical ones.
I
remember long shifts at reception with the purpose in mind “to save” some money
on our operation. My working record was 33 hours straight. Crazy as it sounds!
Another time I did 30 hours in a row. I remember asking my girlfriend to take over for only 15 minutes. I never came back! I just felt asleep somewhere and
she finished that shift. Certainly she would say that was the first time (and
not the last) I did a promise that never kept.
Don’t
save money if that means to waste strategical opportunities to invest your
time. Concentrate your time on those activities which generate money. And don’t
forget this: “be efficient and strategically persistent”! I realized of that
quite late. One year was already gone and much money on our pockets stupidly
went drained.