Rough Road

I saw this sign coming back from breakfast this morning, and it hit me as an entrepreneur… See, right now the roads department in New York is going through my neighborhood, tearing up old asphalt that has potholes, cracks, and is rough. But when the project is done, a whole new layer of roadway will appear, and things will be smoother than ever–at least for a while!

But isn’t that what we go through as entrepreneurs? We started our businesses with ideas, systems, and dreams–then saw them get worn down and beat up by time and troubles, right? So then we get to a point where we say, “The foundation was good, but it needs something new.” Maybe it’s reviewing processes and methodologies, tearing them apart, then bringing them together again in a fresh way. Maybe it’s reviewing your customer list, purging difficult clients and getting new ones.

Whatever it is that this road represents in your business, it very likely will be a rough road until you put a new surface on it. It might be uncomfortable, it might mean a lot of work, but the hope and goal is that the replacement will be much smoother than the the road we have now.  That’s my wish for you and me as we build our businesses.