Good tired: Making the move to entrepreneur
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For the past 30-plus years, I have worked for someone else. My paychecks grew as my work experience and responsibilities grew, and for the most part I enjoyed a long, fulfilling career. Yet, as retirement loomed closer, my wife and I started thinking about options.
We had worked in corporate or association positions for decades, so we wanted to do something different. Then it dawned on me. As an avid electric bike rider since my heart transplant in 2015, why not take that love to the next level and open our own electric bike store in downtown Indianapolis? It would be fun to go from corporate America to life as an entrepreneur, right?
So, after months of research, financial planning and outreach to others in the business, we took the plunge. On July 1, Pedego Indy officially opened in the Bottleworks District to serve Indianapolis as an exclusive, authorized dealer of Pedego Electric Bikes. Three months into this venture, the store is going well and I truly enjoy going to work every day, but I must admit, there are several lessons learned along the way:
- Entrepreneurial Life is Not for the Faint of Heart: I knew there would be challenges, but I didn’t realize just how much I didn’t know going into business for myself. There are so many questions. Do we have enough inventory? Do we have the right mix of inventory? Have we met all the state and local business regulatory requirements? How do we market the store? What happens when the weather gets colder? These are the questions that wake me in the middle of the night. Yet, being in the store makes me happy. I really enjoy the smiles on customers’ faces when they take their first Pedego ride.
- God Bless the HR Department: I never realized how important the Human Resources folks are until we opened our own business. I’ve hired lots of people in my past jobs, but I never really had to deal with things like setting up and processing payroll, dealing with sick leave policies, or establishing workplace protocols and guidelines. Addressing training needs, attitude issues or employee expectations all take on a totally different meaning when it’s your business, and your reputation on the line.
- Goodbye Leisurely Sunday Mornings: Sure, we had work travel that extended through the weekend, or critical deadlines that demanded after hours work, but in a corporate setting, we had colleagues who were in the same boat and who could help. We also knew we had vacation days to rejuvenate after the deadlines passed. The option to take a mental health day here or there existed as well. When you own your own small business, weekends are just another day of the week. No more impromptu getaways or just lazing around the house. We’re in that early phase of the business, elevating awareness among potential customers, so weekends off are a luxury we can’t afford right now. As we remind ourselves constantly whenever the urge to close early pops up: ‘you can’t sell anything if the doors aren’t open to customers.”
- Knowledge is Important/Passion is Critical: Past jobs have required learning about new industries or products to effectively communicate. You must become an expert to have credibility. When you’re opening your own business, it takes more than knowledge. You must truly believe in what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. The long hours, the uncertainty about the future, and inevitable mistakes are all worth it though, when what you’re doing just feels right because it’s what you believe in. It may sound trite, but it just doesn’t feel as much like work, when it comes from the heart.
The late singer-songwriter Harry Chapin often told a story passed down by his grandfather about two kinds of tired. Bad tired, ironically can be a day that you won, but you won other people’s battles; you lived other peoples’ day, other peoples’ agendas, other peoples’ dreams. So, when you go to sleep at night, you toss and turn, you don’t settle easily. Good tired can be a day you lost, but you lived your way, fought your battles, chased your dreams. And when you sleep, you sleep the sleep of the just.
At the end of the day, I don’t know how successful Pedego Indy will be, but one thing is assured, I will be good tired.