Productivity in Paradise
March 30, 2010 | Business by Paul Baumgarthuber |
Why do entrepreneurs stray from the path of 401k’s, health insurance, and a steady paycheck? The reason many entrepreneurs choose the path they do is to gain flexibility and freedom in their lives, holding those two ideals higher than the security of a corporate 9-5. This concept becomes even more of a truism for web based entrepreneurs. These individuals choose a laptop and an internet connection as a means to free themselves from the shackles of a brick and mortar fate.
Having the entrepreneur itch myself I have tried to do my own thing since graduating from college. After graduating college and starting my own company I quickly came to the realization that being an entrepreneur and running a business wasn’t easy. After failing at one I eventually started another business, one which was web based. About two long years after doing both the corporate 9-5 and building the business my partners and I decided it was time to sink or swim. With a little savings, a lot of fear and a ton of motivation the decision was made to dedicate all our time to the business.
The desire to succeed, pay bills, eat, and live did wonders for our productivity. After about 6 months of 70 hours weeks our company was doing well and everyone involved was content with the progress. Its human nature to feel that hard work should be compensated with some sort of reward. When it came time to claim our reward it came in the form of a small place steps from the beach in Hermosa Beach, California.
Having a web business allows people to work from where they like. Our choice was the beach and a very active one I might add. Our initial thinking was, “we can be just as productive at the beach as we were before!”. Well, to put it nicely our logic was a little off. The day we arrived in Hermosa we made some friends and ended up partying on the beach all weekend. We did not even start to unpack until the following week. In retrospect we should have taken that as a sign of things to come. Over the next four months we were able to find any and every excuse to leave the house and be on the beach. Initially we were able to justify it to ourselves because “we earned it”. As the months went on and the weather became even more amazing our productivity devolved. Finally, one day we woke up and knew what we had to do. We needed to leave paradise for the sake of our business. Our business had gone from being the key to our happiness and flexibility to an annoying chore depriving us of the beach.
So we made the move back to where everything started and setup a situation that would facilitate productivity and growth. It was a tough decision, but a necessary one. Now that the adventure is over and I have had some time to reflect, I see there was a lesson to be learned. There are always two roads you can take, the self serving fun road or the road that serves the overall good. Sometimes they are the same but many times they are not. In our situation the overall good (aka our business) might not be drivable for long, so we need to drive as fast and as far down that road as we can, seeing where it leads us.
