Wanna Be an Entrepreneur? This Was Yesterday's Rollercoaster.

3:30am - Wake up to pee, start thinking about stressful work stuff, can’t fall back asleep, so I write a 2,000 word email to get it out of my head. Looks like I'm up.

4:30am - Dog peed in his crate, I clean it up, shower & get ready.

5:30am - Drive to the office.

6:30am - Lots of good news via email. Get to inbox zero before 7. Feeling excellent.

7:00am - Bang out a quick post and it performs well. WIN.

8:30am - More good news, can’t lose today! Booked my flight to Main St Summit.

9:30am - Great chat with my partner @CoFoundersNik, then another great call with an employee.

10:30am - Great chat with my office mate @stephenolmon. He's got a big call coming up, I wish him well. We chat Main St plans and an idea I have. He likes the idea.

10:50am - Stripe invoice gets paid for a new thing we're testing. Very validating.

11:00am - Meet with an employee in person to discuss a comp package and launching a new territory for the tree biz. We’re both pumped. Good ideas floweth like cash. Feeling like I can’t lose today.

12:00 - 2 hour visit from my friend @benmlevy. Time flies in an instant as we riff on cool biz ideas. Highlight of the day, no doubt.

2 - 4pm - Weekly Zoom check-ins with all 4 of our biz operators. RV park occupancy almost full. Tree biz getting record leads and other good things.

4:30pm - Head home because dinner is early tonight.

4:50pm - I get this picture from an employee at one of our bigger companies. An electrician (and close friend) that I’ve been using for years has been stealing & scrapping thousands of dollars of wire from us. I'm gutted but want to confirm before making accusations.

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5:10pm - I call the electrician and very tactfully ask him to explain the picture. He acts confused. Claims he didn't steal any wire. There's a misunderstanding. I spend 30 mins calling back the employee, then two more to gather and corroborate facts. Then I look at the cameras and it's 100% clear. He's been stealing, and who knows for how long. I stare at the carpet for a while, turning this newfound data over in my head.

5:30 - My wife tells me the chicken is gonna burn, so I go outside to turn the skewers, thinking about Greg (electrician, name changed). I think to myself "I think I should write about this day. Let's take a picture to document the moment".

5:50pm- Dinner is done but me and my son have to run to a youth activity at church. We load up a plate and hit the road.

6 - 8pm - The activity is line dancing. A parent of a boy with down syndrome asks me to make sure he doesn't get lost in the shuffle. I love this kid (we'll call him Johnny), as he reminds me exactly of my DS cousin that I grew up with. I spend two hours watching Johnny line dance, then he got mad because his sister wouldn't let him eat chips, then he got chips anyway and become happy again, and danced some more. All night my mind is on Greg as I watch these kids line dance. I thought back to the times Greg told me he was praying for my sick daughter and proactively asked me how she was doing.

I thought back to the times he didn't charge me because cash flow was tight. And now he's been stealing from me, while I pay him $80/hour, and likely for months. As I watch Johnny line dance while thinking these thoughts, a random phrase comes to mind, "Life is pure." Huh? What's that supposed to mean? I'm pissed off, life isn't pure at all. But as I ponder I realize it is pure, us humans just muddy the water sometimes.

Life is like a beautiful glacial lake, where you can see 20 feet to the bottom and drink it with your hands, unfiltered. But then we stomp around in it and kick up the mud that life has been holding down all this time. Life is still pure, people are still good, we just make mistakes. And we make mistakes differently, so we get angry at each other. I don't steal, but I do other dumb things. I'm grateful for this seemingly random realization.

8:05pm - I eat a cookie and head back home with my son, just in time for bedtime. I tuck the kids in and watch the Rangers win the World Series as I get back to inbox zero on my Macbook in bed, all over again.

10pm - I tell my wife about that 2,000 word email from 18 hours prior. I tell her about Greg. She's a great listener. I talk about all the times I've been stolen from. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, that I know about, over a 15 year career. The longer you own companies, the more you'll be stolen from and the more you'll be betrayed. This is a law of the universe. The feeling of pain and betrayal is directly tied to the closeness of your relationship with the thief, and not to the amount stolen.

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I will always be an entrepreneur. Highs and lows. Feasts and famines. All or nothing. All over the course of a day. I wouldn't have it any other way.

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...Greg Update

Greg brought everything back. Yesterday morning he came back to get his equipment and drop off the wire he took. I went out to confront him after spending a few minutes pondering what to say

I basically said "What's going on, man?" And man, the look on his face I will never forget. He looked like a beat dog.

He looked like he was so disappointed in himself, but his mouth told a different story. He claimed that it was a mistake to put them in his truck but that he didn't steal them.

I kept pressing, and more and more truth would come out. This went on for a few minutes. I told him that we all make dumb mistakes, but that I'd sleep a lot better if he owned it and apologized.

He'd get halfway there but wouldn't go all the way. He just admitted that it was a mistake to put them in his truck but that he wasn't going to steal them and would never do that.

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I finally stuck out my hand and said "Greg, I wish you well." And at that moment, he leaned in to hug me but backed away. He looked like he was about to cry.

It was so weird because his words and face were completely at odds with each other.

I walked back to my office feeling all kinds of things. Mostly, it wasn't the closure I was looking for. I felt depressed, but couldn't tell if it were directed at myself or at him.

I wanted him to own the mistake, but even if he did I wanted him to have never made the mistake in the first place, but that was impossible.

After he left we did more digging, because in the moment I didn't have enough facts to really push back on what was stolen and what wasn't. My employee confirmed that there was still a lot more copper wire that we were missing.

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I then sent Greg this text, and his response floored me:

There it was, in green and white. He'd been stealing wire for months. Thankfully, it was still at his house.

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He brought it all back, (pictured above is a small fraction) we shook hands and he left. He had the same, ashamed look on his face, but at least he was owning it at this point.

I feel better now, knowing that Greg likely feels a lot better, too. We aren't usually able to right our wrongs as cleanly as this.

Another update from yesterday's post? My wife told me I left the propane on all night after grilling the chicken. Whoops. I guess I was a little distracted.

Thanks for reading. This has been one of those weeks, but I still wouldn't trade it for anything else.