why I want to QUIT entrepreneurship

Hey, everyone, it's Mike Andes here. And today I'm going to be talking about the past week that I've had that has been absolutely miserable. Not fun at all. A lot of no sleep nights and a lot of very long days and not fun decisions being made. And I'm making this video for two reasons. One, to prove that it is not all sunshine and rainbows. When you look up to anyone that is doing well in business, anyone that's trying to get anywhere, grow a company is probably going through the same hell as you and your small business, just at a bigger scale, bigger problems. And so realize that if you see people on social media, whether it be in our industry or even massive companies with CEOs, they are dealing with just bigger problems. And I want to be as transparent about that as possible. So that way for two reasons. Again, one, you know that it happens to everybody. And you're not the only one that's left out because no one talks about this on social media. And therefore everyone feels like they're alone and they're the only dumb idiot entrepreneur in the world. So they feel alone and isolated. And then second reason why I share this is that way, in 10 to 15 years when people say it was really easy, then you just like grew Augusta and you just franchised and it was like super simple. Then I can have a video to show them. I can show them. There was times when I wanted to quit, there's times that were really, really difficult, and there were times I didn't think we'd make it. And so this is one of those videos. The past week, several things have happened. I'm going to go over what exactly they were. And again, this should make it feel to you when these things happen, that it's fine, it's normal, it's okay to have disappointments, that it's normal to feel like you're going to lose. It's normal to feel like you might not be able to make it and feel afraid. That's all normal behavior and emotions when it comes to business. And if you don't feel that way and everything's just posh and fine and just hunky dory, 100% of the time, you're probably not pushing yourself. You're obviously not growing a company, you're not growing yourself, your skillset, your team, or pushing the people around you to become better individuals. Because with change and with pressure and with growth comes pain. When a body is growing, there's stretch marks, there is pain in the limbs and in the joints because the organism is growing. And so if your business is going to grow, if you as a professional are going to grow, as you as a business owner are going to grow, if your employees are gonna grow their skills, you better expect there to be some pain and be some times when there's stretch marks and there's things that are done that are not good and leave permanent damage because simply the of the organism. And you could say, well, oh, well, I don't want to grow, then keep my business small forever. Well, then you'll never grow. You'll never expand, you'll never become better. You'll never grow. The muscle if you never tear it. The muscle is grown by tearing it via pressure and pain and weight. And that's not fun, that's not easy, and no one likes that. But everyone stands back and likes the big muscle. Yes, I'm flexing right now. Big muscle. Everyone likes this, but they're not willing to put in the thousands and thousands of reps and the pain it takes to lift weights. And the same thing goes for business. If you're gonna build a great business that people look up to and admire and they're like, I want that. I want that for myself. Be expecting the weight and the reps and the repetition and the soreness and the stretch marks and the pain of the joints, that's going to happen.

And so this past week, I had to fire someone that was an incredible worker. I had to fire this individual. They were a great part of the team. They contributed very, very well. I liked them as a person, the team liked them as a person. And at the end of the day, this individual simply did not meet the requirements of the job position. It wasn't anything against them personally. They were a great person, but they simply could not do the job that I was expecting of them at the height or the level of efficiency that I was expecting. And at the end of the day, I have to take ownership of that. The fact that I did not h somebody that was going to be able to fill the role in that position, I took ownership of it, but it did not take away from the sting of firing someone that was a really, really good person. And you're going to have times like this where either they're friends or family or just really good people, and they do, they try their hardest. They actually really committed to the team. This individual was that type of person. But we had to let them go simply because it was best for the team that this person be let go. And it was not fun, it was not enjoyable. And I hated every single minute of it. But it was the right thing for the team. And the team agreed that it would be better to get someone that had more experience for the specific role. That was not fun. And I literally didn't want to do it so much that I prematurely addressed it two days prior to when we had agreed to do it. Because I just. It was like, just bogging me down mentally. I'm like, we know what we have to do here. I gotta let this person go. And we did. So. And that was not fun. Another thing happened this week and it was the opposite. Instead of firing, people just left. And this is not the fun part, because at Command center and we staffed up massively over the winter, you all heard me talking about how much people we were hiring, dozens of people we hired over the winter. And unfortunately, massive amounts of people over the past two months have left because. And we've been replacing them with new people. But there's churn and massive amounts of training going on. And at the same time, we're going into the spring rush when the amount of calls has, like quadrupled from just a few weeks ago. And so. And leads and all the rest of it. And so they're getting behind when literally I had promised the franchisees that what happened last year would not happen again. Where Command center got behind and where we were not able to get estimates out, you know, within a couple hours. And rather it's a day or two, like that's not acceptable. But it's happening because a lot of the. Our most experienced employees are leaving. And so again, I have to take ownership of that and figure out what we can do. We're going to have to raise wages and we're gonna have to step back and figure out, okay, why are people leaving? Can I make this a better place to work? How can I do that and realize that this is a really tough labor economy? It's very difficult. And at the end of the day, the thing I hate the most is when I promise something and I'm not able to deliver on it. I hate it. It's the most gut wrenching thing. It's the thing that keeps me up, is when I promise something and then for things, whether they're in my control or not, I fall short of that. I hate it so much. And so that happened with Augusta Lawn Care for the franchise that I care so much about is gut wrenching and leads to a lot of pressure that then spills over into the workplace. Like, we're all under pressure. We want to perform, we want to do better job, we're running behind. And then in those moments, because of the extra pressure, people leave. Good people, great people, but they leave because there's a lot of pressure, trying to get the expectations and live up to these expectations. And so all of us deal with churn, all of us deal with people leaving. But it's painful when they're people that you've invested a lot of time, energy, money, training into and they're great people and they leave. And then you start questioning yourself. And the reason I'm saying this, cause this happens to all of us. Someone leaves and they say something to you on their way out the door or potentially start just second guessing yourself, like, why are these people leaving? Maybe it's something I'm doing wrong. Maybe the business is, maybe they are right. Maybe the person who said something really negative to me, maybe they're right. And like, you start second guessing yourself and you start questioning yourself, then start feeling depressed, Then you start feeling, maybe I should just retract, maybe I should constrict the business. Maybe I should just go back to being small. Maybe I should just not create jobs, not try to grow, just focus on, you know, my business and myself, just work by myself and not grow anymore. And that is very tempting for me at times. Be like, look, why do we keep growing this thing? Like, if we just stopped growing it now, we'd be profitable, we'd become profitable and we could easily do very well with the franchisees and et cetera. Like, why do we need to grow to a thousand locations? The bottom line is the growth of doing that will help so many more people if we unless in comparison to just stopping right now and staying where we're at. Stasis. Stasis is the most profitable place. Less growth is always more profitable. But if you're going to not have that, if you're not going to have stasis and you're gonna have growth, expect pain. And that's what we're going through right now. And it's not easy. It's not easy losing really good employees that you love and care about. And you start to second guess yourself. You start to second guess the way you run the business. You start to second guess your hiring practices and the way you treat people and you start second guessing everything. And the reason I'm saying this is because this will happen to you. You will have employees walk off the job and for all you know, it has nothing to do with you or your business. But you will start to think that because for all you know, there's something in their family, there's something in their, you know, medical. There's something psychological they're dealing with. There's financial pressures. They maybe got a better job. Maybe they just want to switch industries, whatever it is. But you got to realize that this is going to happen. And if it's not happening to you now and you're getting started, expect when you hire employees, this is going to happen. This is the turmoil of creating jobs. I love creating jobs. I love providing for local community in my local community jobs. I love that. But with that comes a lot of turmoil emotionally, because both of these things I just mentioned revolve around the team that we work with every single day. And so I hate failing people, I hate failing employees, I hate failing franchisees on things that I said I would deliver on. And that's the biggest kryptonite, the biggest Achilles heel I have, is when I say something and I sell something, when I say sell, I mean, I just promise anything. If I fall short of that, it is crushing. It means I cannot sleep, and I will work my. I'm doing estimates. Like, literally in the past week, I've done estimates because I do not want that to happen. And so you can lead by example till you're blue in the face, but if that's causing pressure, you have to mitigate that. Some people are not going to be able to deal with that or want to deal with that. And in this labor market, they have plenty of other options. So one of those days, one of those weeks. And during these times is usually when you have the most financial pressure, right? And so most of, you know, Augusta's growing very quickly. I'm putting lots of money into the company to make it grow. We don't have any venture capital. We don't have anyone investing in the company, 100% of it. And that creates pressure. And this pressure is gonna be good. This pressure, this weight that we're carrying right now is in the long term, going to be good. In the short term, that muscle gets sore, it begins to cramp. It needs more oxygen. It needs more water. And that's what we're going through right now. And at the end of the day, when you have these kind of days, when you have these kind of weeks, because you will. And I hope that with me sharing this and being somewhat vulnerable, because some people will be like, you shouldn't share that, because, you know, you might not be able to sell any franchises, then so be it. Like, I have let people down Maybe I deserve not to get an extra franchisee or two because they say, oh, well, command center falls behind. At the end of the day, I have to step back and own the fact that potentially I made mistakes. Potentially I can become better. And when I take ownership of that, it gives me a sense of control that I have something to do with it. I can actually make it change, I can actually improve it. I can actually make a difference. Instead of being the victim and saying this is because of the labor economy or cause people are soft or whatever, I will not take that position. Cause as soon as I do that, I become the victim. And other people have power over me. I do not have power over my circumstances and the situations that I create around me. And that's how I choose to live my life. I take ownership of these things. I take ownership of the fact that employees don't wanna work at my place anymore. And that's a burden, and that's a lot of pressure.

And just realize you're gonna go through that. And so if anyone's trying to sell you a bill of goods, that it just happens overnight or that's easy, or that hiring people is really great and simple and building a big business is great and easy. Just remember, you're looking at the person at the top of the mountain. You're looking at the Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos After 20 and 30 years of grinding, pounding their head up against the wall. And we all admire them and think they're so great. But there was years of what I'm talking about right now happening. And so hopefully we're one day, if I ever attain that, when I get to that level, someone will be able to look back at videos like this and realize that they're here, they're here now. And whether you're at a $100,000 business, a million dollar business, a $10 million business, or $10 billion company, it doesn't change the facts. And that is entrepreneurship is very, very difficult. Psychologically, is a marathon. And I'm willing to run it on my candies. Check out mikeandies.com and we'll see you tomorrow.