Mike Andes on building a million-dollar business over nearly 10 years. He dismisses the advice to do what you love, arguing instead you need to learn to love the grind. The early years feel like a rocket launch, intense and all-consuming, before things eventually get easier.
I knew that people would say negative things about the way I dressed, the hat I wore, the American flag on my shoulder, how I drove, all that sort of stuff. And that's fine. Ultimately, it comes down to two things. Number one is I've never seen someone more successful punch down and ridicule or say negative things about someone that is below them. Never have I seen that. And secondly, this quote that I love so much, it's not about doing what you love, but learning to love what it takes. And ultimately, this whole challenge is simply showing what what it takes and the grind it takes to get the biz off the ground. Because that initial inertia, when a rocket is taking off, all of the energy is spent in those first few minutes when it's going tens of thousands of miles an hour in space and there's less gravity, there's not a lot of energy required. It's that first little bit, that first month, two months, that first year, two, three years in business. And I don't want to just be that guy that you see now videos. And I've been in business for doing this for 10 years almost. You're getting to see what it takes. And that's the process that I fell in love with.
