Over a year and half ago, something significant in my life happened. I relinquished all control of my business endeavors by coming together alongside four entrepreneurs to form a software company called Copyblogger Media.
Above is a picture of me and my partners Brian Clark, Sonia Simone, Tony Clark and Sean Jackson. Some call us the Breakfast Club, others have their own choice words.
At the time I made the decision, it seemed like a pretty good idea. Fortunately for me (and my other partners), I still feel that way. In fact, I feel that way more than ever.
What I’ve never done, however, is share the reasoning behind the move and why I took a million dollar company that I had built and placed it into the hands of other people.
Sometimes you gotta say what the…
In all honesty, there are some pretty simple reasons why I did this. Some of them might make sense to you, while others – not so much.
The bottom line is that ultimately I believed in the vision that Brian Clark cast about building a company which offered 3 things that online publishers need to succeed.
Design optimization, content optimization and conversion optimization – also known as StudioPress, Scribe and Premise.
Aside from that vision, there were a number of reasons that led me to the decision. These were things that I struggled with being a solo entrepreneur, and ultimately I choose to trade in complete ownership for a bigger picture.
Here are the real reasons why I left my solo gig to join Copyblogger Media.
1. I hated my inbox and nearly had a nervous breakdown because of email.
This one is no joke, so I’ll give you the skinny on what pushed me over the edge. When you run your own company, you are responsible for everything.
I mean everything.
A couple of years ago I went to New Mexico on a ski trip with Cory Miller and got food poisoning. When we got back to the cabin and in between bouts in the bathroom, I opened up my inbox and had more than 100 emails sitting there.
I’m not talking about spam emails or notifications of blog comments – I’m talking about legitimate “need to personally respond to” emails that would have (and did) take hours to work through.
As owner (and every other position) of StudioPress at the time, I was in charge of all aspects of the business. Customer service and pre-sales questions were for me to attend to. In addition to accounting, product development, support, et all.
The appeal of joining forces with others and deflecting that correspondance was something I couldn’t deny.
2. I couldn’t market my way out of a cardboard box.
I won’t completely sell myself short here, because at the time of the merge StudioPress was doing over six figures a month in sales.
Brian Clark promised me that he’d double sales with StudioPress, and that happened in half the time he had expected. Our site traffic has tripled since then as well.
Eh, that’s because he’s quite the content marketer.
At the time I had no idea what content marketing really was. But it all sounded good, and so far everything has worked out.
The truth behind the marketing element of my decision was that Brian, was um, Brian Clark. He ran with guys like Chris Brogan and Darren Rowse, and that appealed to me.
After all, both of those guys are now running the Genesis Framework on their sites, so somewhere along the way we did something right.
The bottom line was that I needed a true marketer for the product, and it wasn’t me.
3. My dedicated server at (gasp) GoDaddy was continually crashing.
Two years before the merge with Copyblogger, I was running into some serious server issues. I had originally signed up with GoDaddy on a shared hosting plan, which quickly became a problem.
So much that I decided to fork over $200/month for a dedicated server with support. Because I really didn’t know a thing about hosting and all that comes with it.
Anyway, even on the dedicated server I was experiencing problems, and at one point it took down StudioPress (and its $3,000 daily revenue) for almost 3 days.
Eh, not good.
Soon after the merge, we moved the StudioPress site over to a very special hosting environment. Not only were the configurations set for optimization on the site, it was managed by people who knew what they were doing.
After some things came together, we officially launched our own WordPress hosting service, which is built with performance, security and expertise in mind.
I don’t lose sleep any more when it comes to hosting or related issues. We have some incredibly smart and talented people running that division.
4. The idea of supporting 75,000 customers by myself nearly drove me to drink.
When you have a lot of success, it usually doesn’t come without a price. For me, one of those prices was support.
Can you imagine even a fraction of those people asking one or two questions a day on our support forum? Or how about 10?
Welcome to the world I lived in back in the day.
It’s true I started to pay a few community members to serve as forum moderators – but the idea of being fully responsible for helping that many people each and every day was more than daunting.
And you know what?
Some of those people live across the pond and were asking questions while I was sleeping. Try waking up to pages of unanswered posts that you need to respond to.
There are currently over half a million posts on our forum.
I’ve been blessed with a support team that’s part of our company which not only bends over backwards for our users, but allows the hair on my head to slowly grow back.
5. I desperately needed a designer, because I am certainly not one.
While I managed to sell a few (thousand) themes to folks, it wasn’t because they were pretty. I’m probably my own worst critic, but the fact that I was designing the themes for StudioPress didn’t lend itself well longterm.
Most of the success I had in the early days was based on opportunity, and being one of (if not the) first to the premium WordPress theme market.
It was becoming painfully clear that I needed to step up my game, or I was going to go down like the Titanic. And water was coming into the boat.
Along came Rafal Tomal.
I’m sure I don’t need to explain who he is, as he’s pretty much made a household name for himself these days as being the Lead Designer at Copyblogger Media.
I mean, go take a look at his website to see what I’m talking about.
The increase in sales at StudioPress was part marketing, but also a result of our themes looking a hundred times better than when I designed them.
6. My analytics, optimization and conversion skills were rather putrid.
It didn’t take me long to grow an affection towards my partner Tony Clark. Also known as Nestguy on Twitter, together we’ve formed a bond so tight that we consider ourselves brothas from anotha motha.
Not only does he work alongside me now on the product/support side of Copyblogger Media, he’s pushing and encouraging me to learn more about the things I’ve known nothing about.
Analyzing traffic, converting that traffic and consequently increasing revenue.
I never finished college and certainly don’t have a degree in any of this stuff. To be honest, I didn’t know what a landing page (much less a call to action) was until we formed the band.
I’m continually stretched to dig deeper and to figure out how we can make more with what we have – which is Tony’s fault.
Ok, I’ll stop beating myself up and get on with why I’m writing this.
Do I really think I’m worthless and couldn’t be successful on my own? Of course not.
The problem I was dealing with back in the day was that out of necessity to keep the ship afloat, I was becoming the jack of all trades and master of none.
I was spending too much time fixing people’s accounts, setting up forums and not enough time in keeping up with technology and in business development.
I was practically a warm body in some of these roles, and it didn’t do me (nor my customers) any favors by begrudgingly corresponding out of necessity.
I wasn’t where I belonged, and most definitely wasn’t in my sweet spot.
It was a struggle to wake up everyday and get it all done, but I knew the “impossible” would rear it’s ugly head by the time I needed to shut down for the day.
So, by any chance do you know what I’m talking about?
Fess up, or at the very least lie and make me feel better.
I can’t be the only entrepreneur out there who dealt with responsibility overload and was on the brink of turning off the lights and shutting the door on it all.
How is your business going? Where are you at with your business plan? Are you stagnating and struggling to take the next step?
Sometimes it takes a course of action by YOU, while other times it’s an outward display of what I call luck.
The phone call that changed it all.
When Brian Clark called me to ask if I had any interest in forming a multi-million dollar company that would build software for thousands of people to use, it didn’t take more than two seconds (in my mind) to say yes.
I played it cool, possibly a little hard to get, and ultimately expressed interest.
It was kinda like Steven Tyler saying “hey kid, you want to play bass for us?”
A year and a half later, I’m in the band playing music that I love. I’m in charge of my own instrument and don’t care that I’m not the lead singer with all the groupies.
I’m just glad my story didn’t have a tragic ending, and that the road ahead of me is a lot longer than the road behind me.
Life is good. Peace out.
you put to (better) words my exact mindset for why I joined BlueGlass. doing everything on my own (even with an assistant) was simply more than I was willing to do.
Believe it or not, Andrew, you were one of a few people I know that I couldn’t help but think of when I was writing this post.
Cheers to being in the band.
Brian, I really enjoyed this. Great insight into the emotional life of an entrepreneur. It’s not often we get to hear about the emotional side of running a business. I wish more entrepreneurs would heed your passion and talk about the human side of business. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Will, you’re more than welcome. I wrote this post almost as much for myself as I did for my readers.
Just needed to say some things, and figured no better place to lay it all out.
Wow man, what can I say other than thanks for the tell all and the sincerity in this post.
Really insightful read all the way through.
I didn’t know that you had launched StudioPress so early, when was the first official release of Genesis, or your first theme release?
Brian great post! I think the real danger entrepreneurs face when they partner is two fold. First is a must answer question. Is the partnership a coo-petition where 2 years down the road there is so much overlap that you end up as competitors? At MSFT, we partnered with Sybase under the plan that they were enterprise and we were work group. No need to recount how that ended.
Your positioning inside of Copyblogger as one of the three pillars, design, was very strategic. Second, when you partner with “perpetual Power Pointers”. . .people with all kinds of talk and no action, it can kill your outcome. I can honestly say in my own interaction with Brian Clark, you, and your partners at Copyblogger, everyone does what they say they going to do in the original time frames discussed.
That is very unique and part of your recipe for success. Congrats on your decision and the overall awesome team that has been formed. Personally, working with you has been one of the greater professional experiences I’ve had in my career. I look forward to continuing it in the future.
As I mentioned to Andrew, a few people came to mind – you being another. And you literally know what I went through because you got the same call from Steven Tyler.
Pretty cool how it all worked out, and we get to experience life on the road together.
You’re one of those “smart people” I made reference to.
That was an awesome read. It’s truly inspiring to see how even the most successful need a little help sometimes. I definitely continue to struggle with finding the time to be creative while handling correspondence and support. My next biggest hurdle is to figure out what “the next step” is for Pretty Darn Cute Design. Racking my brain on that one. Thank you for the encouraging post!
Lindsey, Bill Erickson gave a great talk at WordCamp Austin on some of his management practices. I literally walked out of it and started to jot things down. It was video taped so definitely watch it once posted. Good stuff.
Awesome, I’ll definitely keep an eye out for it. Thanks, Derick!
That Bill Erickson guy is pretty smart. In fact, he’s one of my favorite people.
I appreciate you sharing everything that went into making the decision as well as the results.
The question is: What’s next? (maybe that’s a future post)
By the way, the half-million+ posts in the forums is totally believable. In the years that I’ve been using Genesis (and I use it for ALL my client sites), I don’t think there’s been a single question I’ve had that I haven’t found already answered in the forums. That established resource in itself brings a ton of value to a potential StudioPress customer.
Of those half-million+ forum posts, only a minute fraction of them are me.
With the grace of God, we’ve now got some really fantastic people steering the ship there. Between Nick and Andrea, everything is taken care of.
Have I mentioned that I love them both? Dearly?
That was such an awesome story!! How did Brian Clark and You meet up though? Did he find you? Was he a user of your product?
I definitely go through some stuggles myself and actually wrote a post on how to build up your side business http://bit.ly/IrthJ0
But I’ll be honest, the transition is hard! Building a product/business takes a long time! I tried to have a partner also but that completely fell through! Finding a good fit to compliment the work that you do is another incredibly hard obstacle to over come.
I deal with a handful of clients now, I can’t imagine having to support thousands upon thousands of requests. But hopefully one day I will get there and I can be in a similar situation like yourself where I’ll have to figure a way to deal with the growth!
Kudos to you and your accomplishments and thanks for the encouraging words. You’re not alone!
Brian, thanks for sharing this so transparently. As someone who’s had a mostly first-person account of the story, it was refreshing to read!
One thing I’ve learned about entrepreneurs is that we’re very opinionated bunch. I know I don’t always agree with how others do business, but at the end of the day it is THEIR business, not mine … and “to each his own.” And I expect the same in return so I’m glad you just put it all out there.
Oh! And by the way, we’re heading to New Mexico tonight for some R&R. We’ll think of the better times though.
It’s amazing to see that among the few people I thought of while writing this, all of them have commented.
You, my friend, are another that came to mind. (and not just because of the New Mexico incident.) I think you’re in a similar position by being in the band – though the one difference is that you’re the lead singer.
Nice to see your comment. Made me smile.
I love that story. EXACTLY what folks like me are striving for. So glad I found StudioPress…..early on !
I too moved from GoDaddy, then to Host Gator..then ultimately to Synthesis. A bit more money… but WAYYY better, safer, quicker….etc
(Still love GoDaddy for Domain stuff tho)
Bought Premise too. Awesome. Keep going Brian.
Mel.
Mel, thanks so much. Always nice to see folks from way back when (like the Revolution days) still following me and what I’m doing.
As for Synthesis, at the price we have it – it’s completely worth it. Just imagine the ROI involved by not having to waste time on a call with GoDaddy (or whoever) because now your hosting “just works.”
Other than the particular details, this describes Andrea & I to a T. In three years the only day I really took off was Christmas day. Being a jack of all trades isn’t as much fun as it sounds. Having other people to help with the things you’re not very good at & discuss the things you are doing is much better
One of my favorite days to date at Copyblogger Media was when “Ron and Andrea” became “Ron Rennick, developer at Copyblogger” and “Andrea Rennick, support manager at Copyblogger.”
I was nodding along at so many points!
So, so very happy we took the leap too. (That’s why you got that big hug back in Austin.
)
Having you and Ron with us is something I have wanted for a very long time. The good thing is that the conversation about hiring you guys didn’t take long.
It was like “all in favor, say I”. And 5 “I’s” came about.
Well Mr. Gardner, it is like you just took everything that I am feeling and placed it on the screen. I am relieved that others are there (have been there) and hope that my “Coplyblogger Media” is in the future. I feel there is that possibility.
Thank you sir.
I had a feeling that my post was going to resonate with a lot of people. The truth be told, most of the people I know online are like you, Mariah, entrepreneurs playing solo.
Some like it that way, others don’t.
I hope your “Copyblogger Media” story is around the corner!
Thanks for sharing all this with us Brian. I can totally relate to the stress level of being responsible for everything and having to do things that are outside our gifting. It’s obvious you found the right team to join.
And I’m glad too, because StudioPress themes have become such an integral part of my business that I want y’all to be wildly successful and stay around a long, long time.
Thanks Chris – like I said to Mel it’s great to know people like you have been around since the early days. I know we don’t get to work as closely with one another as we’d sometimes like, but knowing that we run in the same circles and are both successful is good enough for me!
Fantastic post, Brian
This confirms every fear I have about launching a product business in addition to client work… thanks?
Honestly though it’s helpful to see behind the curtain and know that what looked easy from the outside was a challenge in reality, but those challenges can be overcome.
Glad you found a way to make it work, and that you didn’t quit. I know there are other frameworks, but I love using Genesis everyday.
Nick, don’t get me wrong.
I think a product business can scale (and make you much more money) larger than a freelance/hourly based business. With products, you’re income isn’t tied to the hours you bill.
For me, it just exploded so quickly, and I struggled with relinquishing control at times – which only made things worse.
Theres always greater risk with the potential for greater rewards… and I know the fear is good — it keeps me from jumping in too fast and getting into trouble.
Watching your journey has, in part, inspired me to make my own.
Nick, it’s kind of like having a kid, it’s harder than you think it’s going to be, but it’s also more fun than you think it’s going to be.
I have 2 kids (3 and 1.5) so that metaphor really resonates with me
Heh, I always tell my friends who are pregnant that kids are the best AND the worst thing that will ever happen to you.
I think it’s fair to say everyone else respects your skills and contribution to the WordPress world, so I think you might be being just a *touch* hard on yourself, heh. Seriously though, great write up – cool to see your story all out like this
I hear ya Chris, and I don’t *really* sell myself short that much. I just wanted to illustrate the need for me at the time to do something drastic in order to keep my sanity.
Sounds like you made the right decision. Congrats on all of your success. I use all of these products.
Thanks Jim, appreciate it. I’m thankful for the decisions I made, and more importantly for the opportunity I was given.
Great post, Brian! I can totally relate to “becoming the jack of all trades and master of none”. Thanks for sharing your story!
You’re welcome Shauna. Always enjoy seeing the designs you do for your clients!
Being on the inside of StudioPress during the run up and eventual transition, it has been a treat to watch what happened. I think after the dust settled, it all started to make perfect sense. We’re all a little better because of each other, at CBM.
I completely agree. One thing I failed to mention in the post (because you came onboard prior to the merge) was your role in taking away the pains of development I had.
It’s very safe so say that without you around, there’d be no framework called Genesis.
Just a bunch of PHP files, without dynamic body class and all the other smart things you insisted we put into it.
Oh, and do I remember when you started to pull down some of those revolution demos. . .the hot linked image 404′s would have killed that commodity host 4 times over in the first hour. It was cool to watch as it was a testament of the broad reach you had with revolution.
As a follower from the Revolution days, I have to say I was always interested in why you specifically joined forces. I thought it was a great idea then, and it’s only gotten better. Seeing what you have built, and ultimately have done with StudioPress is why I haven’t built a new website on any other platform since I purchased it pretty early on. Thanks for sharing your story!
That’s music to my ears Melissa, thanks for the years of continual support.
Surviving the emotional roller coaster of being an entrepreneur is an achievement in itself. Lump on a hefty dose of disappointment after your business didn’t sell, no one would have blamed you for shooting life the bird and giving up completely. I’m glad you didn’t.
A pastor once told me that, “Sometimes God puts you through something so you can help others go through it later.” I was at my fiancé’s funeral at the time, so the pastor’s timing wasn’t the greatest, but his message still rings true. I’ve just recently started writing a blog to share some of my newbie blogging insights, offer help, and advice to those just starting out in the blogosphere.
It’s the momentous life events we endure that reveal our greatest successes. I’m just glad that you took the plunge to partner with Copyblogger Media. And I believe I’m not the only one that thinks that way.
Thanks Colleen, appreciate you taking the time to comment and hit the depths as well. If my post even inspires a few people to hang in there, then it was time well spent writing.
Another great post, Brian.
I haven’t grown a business big enough to have these kinds of issues just yet. But I am the head support guy for another solopreneur who sells themes/skins as he may have been experiencing the same type of feelings you were.
We joke about how the hell he could expect to do what he does and still maintain quality support. The truth, we just don’t think it’s possible. So, I totally feel you on this post.
I’m glad to see it all worked out for you.
Heh, the support thing. Probably the hardest thing I had to deal with, because that was usually something that was filled with folks who wanted immediate attention with. The truth is I wasn’t prepared for the volume I did, and took longer than I should have to help patch the dam.
Brian,
Couldn’t help but chime it. Having been on board (as a customer) since the early Revolution days it’s been quite a ride to watch. Much of my own business has been built off of yours.
Interestingly, I’m in a similar position with my own business right now, the overwhelm part that is, so much so I’m actively ramping down the services component to ramp up a more product centric vision. Services won’t go away, but it is going to be much more selective.
I’ve had the distinct pleasure of being a part of the WordPress community and working first hand with the likes of yourself, Rafal, Derick and others and it’s really inspiring to watch. Inspiring in the sense that it it’s helped me recognize that to achieve the scale and success many of us strive it takes a team of the right people, and doing it alone simply doesn’t work (for long).
I love what I do and there are few things I would rather be doing (perhaps playing in Aerosmith!) but the night-after-night of 4 hrs of sleep and burnout take their toll.
Nice to see some of the commenters here… the Audience is Listening!
Thanks so much Scott for chiming in. It’s really good to hear that much of what you do now is based off of what we’ve done, as that only affirms that the ecosystem is still working.
Hang in there – we all have times where we need to put in our time. I remember one weekend years ago while Shelly and I were walking the 3-Day event… sitting in our tent, on a Saturday afternoon and I was activating forum accounts.
I honestly can’t imagine someone better to work with than you, Brian.
It’s really been a kick, and I can’t wait to see where we go next …
What do you think would have happened had Brian Clark not called?
Also, love all the products, the Synthesis hosting is awesome!
I probably would have continued running StudioPress and it would have plateaued into “another theme company” as a result of me being burnt out.
And great to hear you’re having a great experience with Synthesis!
Great to see such an inside and personal look at how you came to some of the decisions to problems faced by so many of us every day. Giving up that control is probably the biggest challenge but it gets easier when you have the right people around!
As someone whose played guitar for over 25 years (makes me feel old to think I’ve done anything that long) and spent most of the early 90s trying to become a rock star I really get the band analogy. It’s like trying to make a half dozen marriages work at the same time!
Thanks for sharing Brian… takes guts to show a few weaknesses.
So glad that things worked out and you know what… as an affiliate for StudioPress, Scribe and Premise, I feel a small part of your family.
Human nature… we all want to be part of something.
Good look with whatever the future holds.
I love how earlier in the week you posted about adding personality to a post and then go one better and give us a master class Brian!
It’s taken me years to finally understand that it’s OK to not enjoy and be good at every part of my business and to focus on the areas where I can succeed – it’s very liberating and I’m finally doing what I really enjoy.
Thanks so much for sharing honestly – great to see how it’s worked out for you and very inspiring.
That wasn’t by accident Robert, as I was writing the post about personality and transparency, it sparked the idea for me to write this one.
Just didn’t think it was going to be done so quickly.
Wonderful post. I think everyone who’s running their own business goes through the “I can’t keep up with my work and emails” feeling at least once a month.
About a year ago I thought about either growing my company by hiring, or being hired so I wouldn’t have to deal with it all. I went through every aspect of my business, breaking everything down into discreet chunks so I could hire and educate others to do them (sales process, backend development, markup, modifications…).
But just doing this made me so much more efficient that I no longer needed to hire others. All the stuff I didn’t like to do (emails, phone calls), I structured my business to minimize those. The things I enjoy doing (PSD -> Genesis theme), I focused my website and sales approach on so that I’d have more of that work.
I don’t believe in the elusive “perfectly scalable business”. I think you just need to identify the scalable and non-scalable parts of your business, try and minimize the latter, and have a plan in place for what happens when your business grows.
In your case, have a team take over all the aspects you don’t have time to do (support, billing, hosting, design…). In my case, raise rates and be more selective of the work I take on.
But most important, have a work life balance. Don’t let your business take over your life. Over the past 6 months I’ve found a pretty great balance and I plan to keep it.
So much wisdom in your comment Bill, I don’t even know where to begin.
The bottom line is that I’m so thankful you reached out to me a while back, and even more grateful that you’re experiencing as much success as you are.
Keep it up, and look forward to the next place we get to hang!
Great comment, Bill. Brian suggested I hit you up for what you did to find that balance now that I’m working through adjusting to life as a foster dad along with the great referrals that keep on coming. Balance is more important than ever now.
Your openness and vulnerability in this post is admirable!
Some days I feel the same way – I love development and accounting, but email or the idea of marketing just about drives me up the wall.
I believe I’m in the same sort of position you were in then – if the right offer came along, I’d probably say yes and go for it.
That is, as long as it didn’t interfere with my 5-year plan to professional golf – that’s definitely the biggest perk about what I do now.
Thanks for the wonderful read, and I hope CBM continues to grow and expand in the years to come!
Brian,
I always like reading your entrepreneur stories. I’m sure it wasn’t easy and only you really know how hard it was to get to the place where you’re now.
I know how it is to be the jack of all trades when I tried to build my own freelance business. My main problem was that I was always trying to satisfy every single client and deliver the design that is perfect to the last pixel. Unfortunately, my first clients budget wasn’t big enough to cover that amount of work. In results, it almost killed me, my passion and creativity. I couldn’t produce cheap and fast work.
That was the moment when you offered me a job in Copyblogger Media. It took me a while to make a decision but I’m so glad now I work for CBM. It showed completely new perspectives that I didn’t even consider before. It’s also a quite challenge and responsibility to work with best people in this business. I rediscovered myself and found out that this is exactly what I’m looking for.
Great comment, Rafal. It would have been a shame to see your talent and vision go to waste.
No joke. I knew from the moment I met Rafal that he was special, and one of a kind.
Rafal, just think about how happy you are now that for the most part all you do is design. No headaches with clients, email, accounting, marketing and all the other things that you didn’t enjoy doing.
Now you get to spend your days inside Photoshop, with pretty much no limit to creativity. In my opinion, you’re in YOUR sweet spot.
See, this is one of the many reasons I like working with you guys (note i said with and not for
) – you really do let every shine as much as possible in their own sweet spot. There’s such a great exchange of ideas too.
I have tons more to add but I think I’m gonna finally finish that blog post sitting on draft.
Super inspiring post, Brian. In the earlier phase of a startup it’s so easy to be down on yourself for feeling like you don’t have it all together. At the same time you look at people with apparent success (such as yourself pre-merger) and figure that you have it all figured out. Thanks for being open and honest.
Great post Brian – really happy for you (then and now)!
Thanks Shayne, really appreciate that.
Fantastic post.
As someone who has reaped multiple benefits before and after the merge I can’t thank you enough for sticking with it and being an incredible example.
You might say you were fortunate to be first to market in the premium theme business but without some incredible talent and hard work being first means nothing. What StudioPress is today is a testament to your leadership.
You’ve been, and I can say with confidence – always will be, a great colleague, friend, and boss.
I have personally discovered that when you are a successful entrepreneur you soon find yourself serving to administrate the very thing you started. For entrepreneurs, administration is a slow death. Entrepreneurs can administrate for a season but it eventually sucks the life out of them. So glad that someone saw your gifts as a creator and rescued you from administration with people who truly have that gift.
Awesome read Brian!
I have followed this story (I’m a longtime admitted CBM groupie lol) because I found it interesting to me personally(marketing background) but also my small business clients etc, due to the awesomely powerful yet simple to line of tools CBM offers.
All 5 of you come across in social media etc as genuinely likable and obviously extremely talented people. And as a great team. Not merely from what you say but the products you put out and the team behind the products. The folks at websynthesis and StudioPress coupled with the litany of knowledge (on Copyblogger, Premise Content, Teaching Sells etc) from B Clark, Sonia, etc have done wonders for me and subsequently my clients.
Fantastic job and I am crazy excited to see what is to come from the CBM team.
I can’t feel more connected to you when you’re describing around the email problems.
Sometimes I go to the bathroom or just out for some food, and 50 new emails arrive, just like if they’ve been waiting there for me to go out and appear on my inbox.
And yes, those aren’t SPAM or automatic emails 90% of the time.
While I was trying to answer everything at first, and setup my tablet, smartphone laptop and desktop for it, I finally came to the conclusion that I need to show some respect to myself and and define a time to do this being more efficient.
BTW: Your pic of the 5 entrepreneurs looks epic!
Enjoyed the article. I too have been in, since the Revolution days so I guess I am a revolutionary ! Let me know when you go public as I think you have better growth potential than certain recent offerings at $38 per share
Heh, going public – I’d be ok with that for Copyblogger Media, especially since we have people who know what they are doing steering our ship.
Well said. I’ve thought on many occasions why either you or Nathan quit doing your gigs on your own, but you explained it wonderfully and I’m getting to the point with what I’m doing that I either need to scale or become ultra-specialized.
BTW, thanks for sending MWP my way – I think we’re going to work out something very, very cool to serve the Genesis community and I’ve got an e-mail headed your way.
Loved reading this Brian. This definitely inspires me in so many ways. Thanks for being transparent . I believe true success isn’t just in the numbers but it’s in being able to work together with others, learn from others and allowing their gifts to shine. It definitely involves humility and doing a self-inventory.
You have a great team of people that you work with and it’s awesome to see all you’re innovative ideas make a difference in so many of our lives as designers.
Liz, thanks so much for this.
One should never be transparent to be appreciated for that, but it’s nice to hear that my transparency is being appreciated. (if that makes any sense!)
I have been blessed with an awesome partner team and a great team of employees. Each and everyone of them is a rockstar in their own way.
Great post Brian! It’s almost like reading someone’s conversion story. ;^)
I know people who are trapped in the same prison you were in. I used to work as a scientific expert / project manager for a small animation shop, which was somewhat successful. However, the owners were all scientists too, not business people. We had no business expertise and nary a clue how to market ourselves. Yet, in spite of that, the company had been successful based upon the quality of our work. Then the economy squeezed us and cuts had to be made. We had to do the same work with fewer people who were now making less money and had already been working around the clock. The underlying frustration and bitterness was palpable. It wasn’t worth it for me; I got out.
Congrats on the success of Copyblogger Media; you all do great work!
WOW, Brian. This came right at the most critical time for me. I have been a follower of yours since you began back in the day. I am dearly impressed with what you have built. For years I to have struggled with the same issues you had in the beginning. A solo act will make a person go bonkers. Mine did not drive me to drink, but it did land me in critical surgery a couple of times. I am within days of pulling the plug on my business, but for whatever reason I have waited, let it sit until I knew for sure. WordPress is something I use on many sites but as you may or may not know, my employee and I developed our own software. Not that it matters, the work load and the stress was the killer.
I have yet to find my “band” but maybe I should look for one. This article has certainly given me something to think about, so thank you for being transparent concerning your business. You may have just saved something worthy.
The best of continued success to you!
Deborah
Someday you should pick up a little book by Michael Gerber titled “The E-Myth Revisited” which tells a similar story of a woman who starts up a pie business only to get totally overwhelmed by actually running a business. It is an easy read that you will relate to…
I was one of those Revolution purchasers too and recognized right off the bat three years ago that the theme was far beyond the competition. And speaking to you at last year’s Inman News event in Chicago pushed my onto Genesis, although I was convinced all my posts would vanish (they didn’t).
Trying to go on vacation is had for a one-man-shop, and your description of opening your “inbox” while in New Mexico was very vivid to me. After having work situations (not clients) ruin a couple of vacations since I checked my email or checked my voice mail, I feel lucky that I now turn those over to an associate when I go out of town to recharge.
Now, go and enjoy a summer vacation!
Brian,
I read your blog daily (or as often as you post) and this is one of the best posts I have read.
I can relate, to a degree, to what you, Rafal, and Lindsey have said. I am almost at a point of overload with my clients and what they need, and am trying to figure out my “next move”.
I deal primarily with Small Business, and have been taking on everything that they need. From websites to print products.
The hardest thing is trying to get it all done for them, make sure it is quality work, and respond to emails.
Most of my income is generated from the hard work that you have done with Studiopress, so I thank you for that.
Really inspiring!
Jared – as I’ve told others who are at the breaking point… CONGRATS!
In this economy, you’re in a much better spot than others. The one piece of advice I’d have is to try your darndest to find someone who you can trust and delegate some tasks to.
If they prove themselves, you have a future employee!
Excellent point!
“One piece of advice I’d have is to try your darndest to find someone who you can trust and delegate some tasks to.”
Amen to this. The process of prepping for delegation itself was transformative for us. We had to define ourselves, define our style, manners, mission. It was 6? 7? months between deciding to delegate and delegating because we accrued so many benefits from “prepping for takeoff.”
When you come across people who share similar work ethics and business practices, it’s easy to turn things over. Finding those people is the hard part.
Great post — your point about being a jack-of-all-trades (and your dread of the email inbox) really strikes a chord with me. Although I can (and do) offer a lot of different web services, I’m not an expert in many of them. One thing I love about StudioPress’ offerings is that they do what I can’t do — I’m primarily a visual designer, and while I write custom WP themes for clients, they’re all looks and no added function. I have to accept that I am not enough of a programmer to manipulate WP in the ways you guys do. (The added SEO features, the customizations without coding — it’s wonderful. I have no idea how it’s done.)
Anyway, I appreciate you sharing your story! It’s great that you found a way to do what you like the most, without as much of the “everything else” you do as a solo entrepreneur. Maybe there’s hope for the rest of us!
Danielle – thanks for your comment. Always good to know that I can inspire and remind folks that they are “not the only ones” who deal with similar things as I did.
Good to know you’re using our products and that they’re helping out with the business!
P.S. There’s always hope.
great post Brian {as always!}. very inspiring. i am in a place now that i cannot grow without adding to my team of 3. myself & project manager are SAHM’s first and my developer is part-time… i am just going to keep riding the wave of design/development and interacting with the several bloggers & small biz owners that stop by our website everyday until my kids are in school and i can focus more time on growing this business. i love what i do {albeit the daunting task of tech support, emails/hosting issues, etc, etc.} but i know this is exactly where God wants us to be, in this moment – and i’m just fine with that.
bravo to you & your amazing team. thrilled to be working with your tools on a daily basis!
Thanks so much Aimee, really appreciate it. So awesome to hear that you’re busting at the seams and need to hire people. In this economy, that’s a GOOD thing!
Hi Brian: This is a great story. I started out on my own about 8 months ago, and I don’t have anywhere near 75K customers, so I’m amazed that you were able to stay small (in spite of the frustrations).
One great lesson for folks who work alone or who are starting up their own business is to design an organizational chart for the company you want to be one day, even if you are just one person. Initially, your name will be in all of the boxes. But eventually, your goal is to replace each box with the name of someone else, as you hand off duties to others.
As the founder of a company, your time is better spent working “on” the business rather than “in” the business (such as providing support in the support forum, customer service, answering sales Q’s, etc.).
I stole that lesson from my business partner, Kevin, who actually started as a solo entrepreneur and built a 230-employee company w/ $24M/year in revenues. Coincidentally, we’re actually hosting a webinar later today that’s all about these issues. I’m going to share your post with the folks on the webinar (if you don’t mind).
Hey John, no – I certainly don’t mind if you share.
And thanks for so many words of wisdom in your comment. “Your time is better spent working on the business rather than in the business.”
Now that’s great stuff.
Brian, I just reached a similar decision on my InnovationTools website. It needed to grow (and be rebuilt – rather expensive) and I couldn’t do it all myself any more. So I partnered with the owners of another innovation site in Sweden that has a similar editorial and business outlook, with a goal of growing the space larger than either of us could have alone. One of my issues was manpower – I needed more hands to handle operational issues, and couldn’t afford to hire someone. Besides, the innovation space has fragmented so much, with dozens of bloggers and a number of large portal sites, that someone really needed to leverage economies of scale and provide greater value for innovation practitioners and advertisers. This move will enable me to break free from the grind of operational issues, and focus more time on business development. After several months of intense operational planning discussions, I’m still confident I made the right decision. You can accomplish more by “coming alongside” others with similar interests than you ever could on your own. I’m convinced of that now!
Thanks for Sharing Brian. It’s a good reminder of the possibilities for all of us that are still at where you were.
I can relate to a lot of what you write here, especially #1 (inbox overload). I can’t go on vacation without bringing my Macbook with me, which is kinda sad.
I know, right? I still carry my phone everywhere I go to check and stay on top of email. And yes, even when we’re at Disney I’m on it while standing in lines!
These issues feel all to real for me. I ended up bailing out of running my own enterprise entirely due to the stress. If I ever get back into business it will be in direct partnership with people who are experts in all the things I am not.
Your original themes were really nice by the way. I actually kinda miss them! They were a lot simpler and easier to work with.
Hi Brian,
Never in a million years did I believed I could be doing what I am right now.
I most say, this is one of the best reads I had in a long time. It’s been almost 1.5 years since I started using Genesis, your support forum is second to none. I know your company is a large but I most explain your products have allowed me to start my life again.
A few years ago my life as I knew it ended when my spouse decided he wanted to chase a “younger dream”. There I was – left alone, my job gone with him, since I was the office admin our home appraisal company. Just me and the dog and the cat, and all the bills. Along came a friend who needed someone to do web design, then I found wordpress, then I found -[[Genesis]]-. And the rest well is history.
Life is moving in a forward direction!
So glade you made the business choices you did, else god’s knows where I’d be right now. (probly still trying to use the old netscape composer to do sites, LOL ! )
(:“…then I found wordpress, then I found -[[Genesis]]-. ”
Same for me Chris although I did find Elegant Themes somewhere in the middle.
Genesis themes, straight out of the box allow me to give local businesses, with tight budgets, a state of the art website.
Keith, I feel in love with AgentPress, LOL
I’m not ready to settle down yet… I’m still fooling around with all the themes. LOL
It is a quite the key moment in strategic development, when you decide to let other people wear some of your hats.
Hearing the ‘origins’ stories of businesses always makes me think of the formation narrative of superhero teams like the x-men or justice league.
Doesn’t this remind you of a business plan?: http://www.ehow.com/how_4843733_new-superhero-team.html
Such a great story, Brian! Really encouraging and so inspiring – currently I am still a soloist with my business but working with a team seems the next logical step.
You are so honest – thank you for that!
I am one of the Genesis fans from over the pond – so sorry if we sometimes did or do overstress your inboxes
Keep up the awesome work!
Greetings to the whole team!
-Dave from Germany
All I can say is good luck Brian in your quest for success, there are so many people trying to start their own companies these days but not all will make it. Stories like this brings a smile to my face because I have always been one who love taking chances like you. A few years ago I also had my own Shared hosting services and I ran it for about three years. It was good for a while but as you know it, it’s a hard market to be in….. I love what your doing man and I wish you much success.
Thanks Rob, appreciate the support and best wishes!
I doubt my comment will live up to any of the other amazing comments people have left you, but I wanted you to know that both you and Rafal have been inspirations to me since I first started talking with you, learning how you work, and seeing the brilliant results you always produce. I never knew the full story, still don’t know all of it, but I’m so glad you shared this. I’ve only been an entrepreneur for a couple years, but I feel the weight of the world on a daily basis. It often feels like I can’t focus on living when there are endless emails and projects to attend to, and sometimes I just feel like I’m too young for this! The only solution seems to be setting the expectation that I won’t respond to every email within 2 hours, or even 18 hours sometimes. I always worry though that prioritizing my personal life sometimes may mean that my business suffers. It’s an impossible balance. I can only hope that one day Steven Tyler calls me, too
Thank you, Brian, I’m proud to know you and work with you, and you continue to be the image of success in my mind.
Jess, thanks so much for these words you’ve spoken. They truly mean a lot, and I’m glad that our paths cross in the flow of work these days.
It’s hard to get to know everyone online as much as you’d like, but when you come across good people you know it. Both you and Jay fall in that category, and it’s always fun to work on projects together!
Years ago I was burned out and ready to give up on web development. Then I discovered Revolution and WordPress. You have inspired many people along your journey. Count me as one of them.
That goes both ways Brad. Your continual support, designs and what not burst creative juices in me that sometimes get me into trouble. I think you know what I mean, as I spend too much time starting new things without fully finishing the ones before.
It takes a good leader to know when its time to hand the reigns over to a better jockey.
But you didn’t sell out. You simply did what any good business owner should do: delegate, expand, cast your vision to the tribe, and get out of the way.
Interesting article, Brian.
Nice perspective you have Charles, don’t think I could have said it better myself!
I’ve been trying to find the time all afternoon to set aside and read this post and I’m certainly glad I finally had the chance. All I have to say is WOW — You’ve taken the doer of all solo gig experience right out of my mouth. It’s so easy to forget sometimes that others have been there done that. Thanks Brian!
Anytime, Heather. Been a long day for me reading and addressing the comments. Glad you had a chance to read through them – tons of wisdom here given by folks who’ve taken the time to leave their thoughts.
Brian,
Thanks for such an inspiring post ~ I loved reading your story! I owe many thanks to you and StudioPress (both directly and somewhat indirectly) for some major blessings in my and my family’s life. I am excited to see what else is in store for you and the Copyblogger family!
Susan – so happy we finally connected and were able to get things off the ground. I still remember that call we had when we first touched based, and hoping your efforts is paying off for what you were hoping for!
OMG, I have a twin or a clone. I am also hair challenged! I too started with GoDaddy and had the exact same issues. I was also a one man show and felt like a break-down was heading in my direction. Fortunately my wife has joined the team as our copywritter. It is good to have a team.
Unfortunately, I am still having to be a jack-of-too-many-trades, but thank you for creating an excellent support staff at StudioPress. I would have given up long ago without the help and assistance provided in your forums.
I really enjoyed reading your story.
Thanks for sharing, Todd
Todd – thanks so much for the comment, and great to hear you’re able to have your wife on the team.
Jack of “too many” trades is ok for a while, just need to figure out how to shed that coat at some point and move forward.
In the meantime, keep trucking!
Late to the party here, but wanted to add my two cents.
Brian – Excellent writing and inspiration for many that have been in the same position or are thinking of approaching a new venture. Those on the fence – Go for it.
I tried freelancing briefly, and am now delighted to be part of a team that understands the same ideals of business you mention in the post. And, in all honesty, we wouldn’t have a business if it weren’t for StudioPress and the dedication of you and everyone at Copyblogger.
Thanks, Brian.
Dave, you’re one of the lucky ones as the band you’re in is pretty darn awesome.
I am a copywriter with a couple of independent clients. I am also a marketing associate for a hypnotist. I too find it much easier to be in the band rather than its founder. As you stated, it can be more fun and less stressful to do only the parts you are good at rather than running the whole show.
Great story. I started using StudioPress on one of my blogs nearly 2 years ago. Your latest themes are excellent but back then they where very plain. Technically they’ve always been rock solid so its very attractive now that you have great design also.
Eleven40 and Generate are two of your latest themes which i really like. Great design and solid framework
This is the great post since I read here.
I didn’t regret when I decided to purchase the Pro Package of StudioPress. As you mentioned in the post, I used to visit StudioPress for many time but it was not clear to me mind should I buy it or not. What is the benefit of the StudioPress?
Then later I heard about Genesis Framework through Copyblogger.
Then I decided to buy!
I think in this new world, it is hard to survive on our own. I will go to see a person which I think he will become my partner soon.
Your story inspired many people Brian! thank for writing this out!
Brings back memories of the very first day when I stumbled upon your site and the journey then onwards. Revolution theme was indeed a revolution for this industry.
Like others said, it resonates with my own experience so far as well. Most of the entrepreneur people I thought of while reading this post has already commented here.
This made my day. Thank you for writing this
Thanks so much for sharing your long way to the top. It’s not often you get to hear successful entrepreneurs discuss things in such depth and sincerity
Certainly a great story and I am using studiopress for almost two years now and I love your themes they super easy to customized as per requirements.
But, I think one thing is missing is that a little bit more fancy home pages with more slideshow or something that’s looks a bit stylish feel but currently all the themes are giving slitly plain feel.
Brian,
This post sums up the years of my life as a freelancer, trying to make it all come together when I had no idea how to manage clients, write contracts or proposals, handle billing, submit invoices, and do all the crazy things that I never knew would be so integral to the success of my business.
Being a good designer was fun, but being a good business owner is even better when you get to hold onto the things you like doing and delegate the things you don’t.
We’ve just recently begun to work on content strategy and marketing for UpThemes – it’s been a long time coming and we’re finally figuring it all out. It’s a tough thing to do when you’re a designer or developer, a totally different mindset.
I’m glad you’re loving what you’re doing now. I wish you all the best with CBM!
Brian,
Thank you for sharing this. I purchased my first Brian Gardner theme right at the time – I mean a day or two before – you changed to Studio Press. Feb of 2009 I believe. What I am about to write I share in all sincerity. Studio Press and now Copy Blogger Media have been a huge blessing to my life.
I was laid off from my employment of four years in September of 2011. Since that time I have created a small struggling all-in-one Internet Marketing business using Copy Blogger along with the Google suite of tools. Using Studio Press and Scribe I was able to revamp a number of individuals websites such that they were so pleased with the results it lead to word of mouth referral after referral. Thank You so much for choosing to join up with Brian and the rest of the team, you guys do produce beautiful music together.
As an after thought, in your portrayal of the “struggling” entrepreneur you depict the very subject of Michael Gerber’s E-Myth Revisted. When I say struggling I don’t mean in the financial sense but rather in the idea that you don’t own the business the business owns you. I highly recommend this book to anyone who finds themselves totally relating to Brian’s situation and wonders “how do I overcome this?” I have implemented many of the techniques in the book into my business and help many of the people I work with understand the principals taught by Michael Gerber and trust me when I say they make a world of difference.
Thanks again Brian for all that you do for the community and for us – your customers.
JF
Hi Brian,
You mentioned a “very special hosting environment” – could you tell me who/where that would be? I need some really good hosting, meaning reliable uptime + timely support, for a non-wordpress (moodle) educational site.
Regards,
– Leo
Sure thing Leo, but it’s WordPress specific hosting over at Synthesis.
First, I came to Genesis because of the price, it’s very affordable.
Now, I use Genesis & its child themes because their efficiency, beauty and awesome functions. Not to mention that I used Genesis for ALL of my client site.
Back to your post, it’s great when you can find someone to work with for fulfilling your business. I have also found my partner this way. I have some knowledges about keyword research and niche sites, but my writing skill sucks. I can’t convey my ideas into words, that’s the main problem with me. Fortunately, a friend of mine has very good writing skills. Moreover, he shares the same interests with this business. As a result, we teamed up. I have doubled my earnings after working with him for a while.
It showed that you can’t be good at everything. You must find other people to make a team to achieve your goal faster.
Hi Brian,
Could you share with us how you met the other folks or how they found you?
Based on my experience (or the lack there of), it’s really hard to find people who can share your interests, much less your vision, and then bring it all together to form a ‘band’ like you did.
I’d love to hear more on this as well.
Hi Brian: I appreciate the detail you gave here.
What stood out for me in particular was the part about marketing.
I’m not an artiste; I’m not even a coding guru; I’m more an internet generalist, I suppose. I’m not a kid; this is a second career for me (I was in radio/news/mags as editor/writer/etc.) so when I read your heading above — “the phone call that changed it all” — I thought, “YES! That’s what I need! I need the EMAIL that will change it all, though, because I totally hate the phone.” Yeah, I realize that might make it harder for me to find people who share these interests (as a few above have said), so I’d love to hear more about exactly how you found the right people. I hope it didn’t involve lots of (shudder) phone calls. Heh.
Count me among those who were inspired by your post to hang in there.
Custom support is addictive to the business owner. We have a great team of support people and some even work weekends, but I still can’t keep myself from reading and responding to some support questions, even on a Sunday evening.
Guess what? It makes all the difference in the world. Once the business owner gets too far from all these nagging support questions, there’s no more feeling for what really matters to customers. At least, this is how I feel about it.
I can’t say that I play a significant role in our technical support anymore, but the little I do keeps me in touch with the environment we live in.
How much support do you still do?
Personally I don’t do any support these days – I’ve got a great team taking care of that. It’s been well over a year since I let go of that, though I do check in on our forums to make sure things are going smoothly.
It’s very inspiring to see how all this came together. It’s true, when one door closes, another one opens! Thanks for sharing Brian, I really appreciate it.
Finally getting around to commenting on this, because I’ve been trying to figure out what I wanted to say (I know, *me* at a loss for words?!)
But I was talking with Ron and Andrea about this post over the weekend, as we all sat on my deck in the sunshine and realized that we had a DAY OFF with no guilt and no stress (ok, we did peek in on the forums and inbox a little, but only a little.)
I still remember the day I sat down with my husband and discussed the Pro Plus package purchase – he has alway been supportive but not detail-oriented with my various business outlets. I figured I had better let him know that I was contemplating taking what was at the time a *big* chunk of money for us and spending it all on themes.
When I explained what they were and what they would do for my fledgling web design business, he gave me one of his patented quirked eyebrow looks and asked me “why are you even hesitating?!”
From there it just seemed like things accelerated, until the day I got the chat from you asking if I wanted to come on board with StudioPress as a full-time employee. I’m pretty sure I know just how you felt when Brian Clark called you, because I felt that same mix of emotions – I knew it was the right thing to do, but letting go of my freelance business was bittersweet.
Thankfully, I’ve never regretted it, even though I did feel a little trepidation when I found out about the merge with Copyblogger. I knew I had an awesome boss, and the thought of going from one boss to five of them in one swoop was a bit intimidating
Fortunately, Brian, Tony, Sean, and Sonia have all been as great to work for as you are, a fact I quickly (and thankfully!) discovered.
All of that to say…you definitely made the right choice. You’re much quicker these days to delegate and even to take time to relax, and that’s awesome. And I’m grateful you’ve brought me along on the journey
Loved reading this and seeing how it all came together. God is faithful!
Amazing that you were able to do so much for so long without help!
Great story Brian! I’ve been a “self-employed” entrepreneur now for 18 months (did my own stuff on the side before leaving corporate america) and understand completely what you mean. It reminds me of the book The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. He talks about the Entrepreneur, the Manager, and the Technician. Many Entrepreneurs start their own businesses only to fall into the trap of being all three of these people. It’s the first step to a slow death.
I’ve partnered with a couple companies. I’ve continued to grow my own. But I’m ready for that magical BRIAN CLARK phone call
I love your programs and use them on every site I create for clients. I’m determined to never go back to the rat race again and appreciate your story as motivation to push forward and look for opportunities.
Thanks again!
Nate – thanks so much for the comment, really appreciate it.
Here’s to you getting that “Brian Clark” phone call in the future. And for some reason if that’s not in the cards, at the very least you can achieve a level of success on your own!
You’ve had to make many tough decisions since the day you left your job years ago. I’m so happy you’ve found satisfaction, peace, and joy in your current gig.
Thanks my friend, for getting me into the “web thing” back in the day.
What a great story – its definitely inspiring to those who are trying to expand their business!
Thanks Aaron, appreciate it. I definitely want to inspire!
Wow. I’ve just come back to the B.G world after some absence of a few years. I think it was all the talk of Starbucks on Twitter each and every day that drove me away haha. But after dappling with Genesis recently I’ve been lured back into the B.G world and really happy to see how far you’ve learnt and progressed. As a previous flying-solo business owner I agree with all the above. I too am glad I changed direction and pace for the better. Cheers, Rose.
I missed the Revolution era, but loved the quality and designs before you had a crew.
Then you added Nathan Rice and I saw the quality of his coding and how the Genesis Framework became an important piece of our web development.
Then you added Rafal to the mix and I already loved his work prior to StudioPress – he has an eye for simple and yet incredibly looking design.
Then… CBM.
Everything you added was a bonus, gravy… I was already sold on you as a person and the quality of your work.
RAS
You’re way too kind – and believe it or not, I kinda miss the good ole days of Revolution.
Thanks Brian, inspirational story. Handing over the reins to those you can trust to do parts of your job better than you is still a scary experience. It’s good to know there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Wow this brings back a lot of memories. I used to work for a struggling start-up on a shoestring budget and some days trying to handle the demands of customers was literally impossible.
I have several friends who are entrepreneurs who say many of these same things to me. I definitely thinks it takes a person with more talent than me to handle all the different roles necessary to run a business. I have one friend in particular who, in the past year, has built a thriving business with himself as the only full-time employee, whereas I’ve seen seven-year-old companies with far more employees struggle.