When you're an entrepreneur, be prepared to rip your own muffler off

When I was a kid, my family had a powder blue station wagon.

It might have been a Ford, but I really can’t remember.

It ran.

Sort of.

It had a hole in the floor.

And, a hole in the radiator.

Every morning at 6am, I’d wake up, go out in the cold, and fill the radiator with water.

If I didn’t, the engine would get red hot, catch fire, and explode into a billion powder blue pieces.

But, my Dad needed the car to get to work.

He’s an entrepreneur. (That’s french for works really hard, gets paid very

little)

In 1989, he started a printing company, the kind that makes business cards, letterhead, and umm…

Maybe that was it.

Every morning, he’d flop into the powder blue rust bucket...

...with the hole in the floor

...and the leaky hole in the radiator

…. and no gas

...that needed 12 more payments

And, he’d fight traffic, all the way to the print shop

… to print business cards

… in the middle of a recession

so he could feed his family.

#entrepreneurlife

In the middle of the night, during one of the coldest winters in Canadian history, when the

temperature had dipped below absolute zero, and the wind blew, and the icicles shot at us like spears.

The car died.

Well, it didn’t die. (really, it was already dead)

The muffler had come loose, causing it to drag on the ground.

It sparked as it rubbed against the pavement, shooting embers like fireworks up into the

undercarriage.

Did I mention the car leaked more than just water?

It gushed gas and oil and just about any other flammable liquid known to man.

So, in the dead of winter, in the dead of night, in a dead industrial park in London, Ontario, my Dad had

to make a choice:

Either, drive his family home in a powder blue death machine.

…Or rip his own muffler off.

So, he reached under the rusted out frame and tugged

He wrenched.

He kicked.

But, the rusted muffler stayed married to the undercarriage.

He needed to get right under the car, which was now window deep in snow, and pluck the muffler from the

source.

With the mounting snow, and the half filled, hubcap-less tires, he couldn’t slide under.

So, he did the next best thing:

He bundled my brother up in his $8 snow suit, which, by the way, had more holes in it than the

car, and slide him under.

The family gathered around, like hobos around a hobo fire, and watched.

My brother fought with that muffler for three days and three nights.

Until he finally emerged victorious, covered in rust and engine water, holding that muffler.

I learned something important that night:

Entrepreneurship isn’t an occupation, it’s a battle. The life you chose is harder than working a 9-5 and

collecting a paycheck.

Some days, you’ll have to slide you eldest son under your rusted car to rip off your fallen muffler. But,

you can’t let it phase you.

You’ve got to get up the next morning, fill your radiator with water, get in your muffler-less car,

and get your ass to work.

That’s how you win at #entrepreneurship.