Don’t Let The Hard Days Win

It’s a heavy week. Life is heavy. Work. Home. All of it. Work is overflowing, there are unrealistic deadlines to meet, 30 proposals to send out, 6 problems in the pipeline, happy builders, unhappy builders, & it’s one of those weeks where I don’t want to deal with any of it.

This brings me back to the beginning of our business. When we first started selling shower doors, we were mocked and told we could never make a living selling them. Basically shot down in every direction at first. It seemed like there was no realistic way to make this business successful, no way to grow to what we had envisioned when we decided to open up shop. Negativity was coming from everywhere. Back then I didn’t have to try as hard not let it get to me. It’s probably where the term “grumpy old men” comes from. The older I get the more I see it.

When we first started manufacturing, we were told we’d be out of business within the year. My father, mother, brother, & I put in hours upon hours with the stress piling on like flies on cow shit… and it seemed like it would never end. (And in a lot of ways, it still hasn’t; it’s just a little different now) We worked 24-hour days a lot of days. Barely eating, rarely sleeping. It was heavy. It was a lot to carry – still is. Learning the ins and outs of glass manufacturing is one of the most complex things I’ve ever witnessed in my life. The machines need constant maintenance, the glass is temperamental & extremely easy to screw up. Time is never on your side when you have deadlines piling up & the water-jet is down and of course, the technical support phone calls go unanswered. Getting through the beginning stages of manufacturing was one of the most challenging yet life-altering experiences…probably of our lifetime.

What kept us going, and still does, was a dream. A sort of fire in our bones fueled by the opinions of those who told us we wouldn’t amount to anything. Fueled by the dreams of a little boy in a hospital bed fighting for his life & parents absolutely terrified of the unknown. Fueled by a family that chose to stick together no matter how hard things might get. Thats the kind of fuel that burns for a lifetime & the furnace never shuts off.

20 years later, we’re still here. I’m not going to say it isn’t as hard and overwhelming as it’s always been – because it definitely is. It’s a different type of hard now… there’s almost 200 employees all with different lives and responsibilities all depending on their paycheck at the end of the workweek & making sure the gears keep moving for that to happen is a heavy burden, even for the best of us. As the business grows the problems grow and even though some days it seems like we don’t have the strength to get through it, there’s over two decades of data that says we do.

I’m not writing this article today to seem like a sob story. No. That’s not it at all. I’m writing it because, well, for one it feels good to get these ever-present thoughts off my chest, and two, I know there are men out there working their asses off to make sure their business stays open, their customers stay happy, and their employees stay paid. I know there are entrepreneurs out there having the worst week of their life and quitting seems like the best option. I know because I’ve been there many times before. Maybe I’m even there right now. Or close to it anyway.

However, I just know that those two decades of data saying “don’t let the hard days win” is enough for me to lift of my chin & keep grinding along. One of my worst fears is failing & I’ll be damned if I go down without a fight.

I don’t know where the finish line is but I know it sure ain’t here.