You Load 16 Tons

Entrepreneurs are a breed apart from others. They do it all them selves. They hate paying others to do what they know they can do for free. This is often times the reason you hear of people who own their own businesses working 60, 70 and even 80 hours a week. They have a hard time letting go of what they know they can do.

Add to this personality trait the reinforcement of almost every cable station airing some kind of DIY show. I think if you watched enough television, you could actually build a 3000 sq. ft. house, launch it into space and perform open heart surgery over the course of 3 weekends. I mean, come on - is there anything one can't do with a cordless drill, some plywood, a little fancy looking material you can get real cheap if you know where to look and a glue gun?

My advice to most entrepreneurs is to carefully evaluate what you can and can't do and hire out what you can't. Then segment what you can do into what is worth your time to do and not to do. In other words, can you make more money by not doing something and spending your time where you can make the most money?

A victim of not following my own advice I said, "No way am I going to pay that ridiculous price to have someone load all my stuff on a truck. I'll load it and then let someone else drive it." I thought I'm young, strong and will enjoy the challenge. I soon realized, I'm not that young anymore, I hate sore muscles and began to wonder why do I need to prove to myself I can do something I've already done several times.

When it was all said and done, my good friend Steve (the moving expert) and I estimated that we each loaded 4.5 tons onto a truck which is now in Omaha, Nebraska and should be arriving as soon as Friday so I can, you guessed it, unload the stupid thing again.

This song has been ringing in my ears over and over for the past few days.
"You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt."

Next time we move, which there won't be a next time... hopefully, I'm not doing it unless we can hire it done start to finish.