Have You Worked Hard?

Hard work never killed anyone. We used to say. I hear many young people complaining about hard work. Hard work is not working 8 hours in a shop or in a restaurant. Hard work is not working 12 hours in a factory. People complain about hard work because their boss gives them too much work, data entry, or impossible tasks. Hard work is working past the normal hours and working more than one job… Yes that and…

Those may be difficult tasks, and if you are not well equipped or do not communicate well, it may seem like hard work. People misjudge hard work in an abusive workplace or for working long shifts. Those are long days, and sometimes the boredom of those long days may seem like you have worked hard, but you have only worked long. There is a difference, and you can ask any self-employed business owner what hard work truly is.

So what is hard work…

I’m writing this from the perspective of a small business owner and now author. Try getting up at 6 am and going to open up shop, large or small. Think of what the schedule or your schedule will be like today. Make sure all the employees are there and start the day. Answer calls, prepare production schedules, receive and ship goods, and deal with sales, orders, and production. Try and squeeze in a coffee and a break if you can and eat lunch. Repeat the above process along with problem-solving in production, late shipments, and late orders. Add in purchasing, meetings, and more calls. Try to focus on processes, quality control, and staff. Repeat all that in your head throughout the day, and you get the idea of what a busy day is like. I am coming at this as a business owner and now author. Yet my processes are still the same but on a smaller scale.

Busy?

This also means that many small business owners are afraid to delegate tasks. This will come soon enough when one can afford to hire someone to delegate to… And when they trust someone enough to delegate to effectively. These are some minor hurdles that we all need to cross.

So imagine the above and then the added stress of business life, and personal life of the owners and the employees. So when people tell me that they have worked hard, I always shake my head and they look at me like WTF!  Unless you have truly worked hard and worked for 24 hours straight without sleep and slept at the shop or factory. You have not worked hard or hard enough until you own your own business and deal with the stress of it all. Sorry, but that is the truth…