The “Work
Hard” Mentality
During my early teenage years I often had
to do a lot of chores around the house as in any typical family. There would be
rewards for doing each task and a dollar figure attached to the amount that
would be paid when each task was completed. In hopes to build a strong work ethic spent
endless hours completing task around the house as any teenage boy would do.
The problem was my parents didn’t see the
underlining lesson they were teaching me about money: work hard for money!
The reason I write this blog today is because
an entrepreneur should NEVER work
hard for money. Let me explain.
An entrepreneur should leverage his or her
ability to think and use other people’s time and money. A common abbreviation is OPT
or Other Peoples Time. The first experience I had using OPT was at the early age
of 13. The story goes like this…
I clearly remember one day at school in
grade nine when my friend Cody needed some extra cash for a video game he
wanted to purchase. At the time my mother was paying $20 to mow the lawn. The
issue was that I hated mowing the lawn. It was hot outside and I had better
things to be doing.
During a conversation on the school bus with
my Friend Cody I offered him to mow my lawn for $10. I could make a quick $10
and he could earn $10 towards his video game. This seemed brilliant in my mind and
he had no problem coming over for the evening.
We headed up the street to my house which
sat the peak of a mountain overlooking the beautiful valley. I clearly remember
telling myself I didn’t want to be involved with mowing the lawn; instead I
wanted to teach Cody how to do the chore from start to finish. I showed him
where the mower was, how to fuel it, how he should cut it, where to put the grass, and so on.
Everything was going as planned until my
mother stepped out of the front door and saw my friend mowing the lawn while I
was watching and drinking an iced tea. She was furious! She started raising her
voice and telling me that was my job to mow the lawn.
She couldn’t believe I would give someone
else my chores and take a cut of the money. She even told me that it was
stealing. I was confused, I didn’t think she would be so upset… the lawn was
getting mowed correctly and on time.
She walked over the Cody, turned off the
lawn mower and demanded I finish the job. I tried explaining to her I didn’t
want to do it and Cody needed the money. But my efforts were useless. I was
punished and had to mow the lawn every week for the following 2 summers.
This incident stuck with me for a long
time. I believe it had a true impact on my ability to properly outsource work I
didn’t like doing. When I finally started my first business at 21 I often did
all the work myself. I wore multiple hats in the company, including the ones I
was not good at.
Then I heard a quote I’ll never forget “Do what you do best and write a cheque for
the rest”.
My mother had been an employee her entire
life and was programmed to work hard for money. This is a concept that does not
work well for entrepreneurs. I would highly recommend visiting cheap outsourcing sites like Fiverr.com and MyTasker.com to get help get those undesirable tasks done.
As my business coach always says... Using
other people time is a key to starting and running a successful business.
Dion Siluch
Choose To Win
“Do what
you do best and write a cheque for the rest!”
