The team makes the difference

A friend of mine, an entrepreneur of a tiny construction company warned me yesterday to slow down because his health is quickly deteriorating from so much pressure and stress. I know what he talks about. 

In the beginning of Feri's Sausages I used to wake up with numb arms and dizzy head from the daily excessive physical work that I usually topped with 180 - 400 km drives from afternoon to late evening, instead of taking a break. I did everything from lifting meat bags to sausage making, packing, delivering to customers, as well as customer care and some primitive accounting.  

We had a crazy one year under those circumstances and it was clear I must take people onboard. Trust in other people's loyalty and work is a big issue to someone who has always worked alone. By now we reached milestone after milestone in our business, every year has been much better than the previous one. 

By now we managed to construct structure in the chaos. Still, every day is different, there's always a new challenge, a new problem or a new request we must deal with with super tight deadlines. 

I'm not a business guru or an internet phenomenon, so making 10 word business quotes is far from me. It's too 2017 anyway... :-D

On the other hand, what I learned in this four years of entrepreneurship is to surround myself with a select people that help me lifting up this small company and together we can move it further. Uplifting may simply mean to stay alive, which we manage. It also means taking us higher to help achieving more and more goals. 

In other words: the team makes the difference!

When I answer to my entrepreneur friend later today, I will tell him that he must trust people to do their jobs, the job that  he is doing now all alone, including book keeping and all the practicalities around his business that take time and effort.

If you read this and you start a business, please remember: you don't have to do everything. And your company will be able to cover the costs of your new employees and the price of your accountant because you can do more unique work that only you can do, such as finding an investor, developing a new product, improve your skills in management, or simply rest and stay alive. 

As I said, I don't try to pretend, that I'm some sort of big shot, so I stop here. I am grateful to my team that each year we almost double our production, increase our revenues and ending 2017 financially in a very promising situation.

Thank you, Niina and Kami for your quality work, perseverence and good spirit!