ENTREPRENEURSHIP AFTER 50
The Best of Times and Water Lines
Getting kicked in the teeth has its rewards
Like most of us, I worked for somebody else for the first 30 years of my career. I followed a “slow and steady wins the race” approach that was inherently rewarding for most of that 30 years. As a t-shaped creative brain, I got the chance to fill a wide variety of roles without ever leaving the confines of a few great ad agencies.
But then I found a new calling at age 52, and am now almost two years into an amazing entrepreneurial journey. I will focus on this journey in a series I’m calling “Entrepreneurship After 50.” Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur or a budding novice, this series is for you.
First up is a quick dive into the agony and the ecstasy of working for yourself.
The Agony and the Ecstasy
My partner and I created one of the largest indoor/outdoor pickleball facilities in the country. We bought a rundown, mistreated ’70s-era tennis facility and turned it into The Pickle Lodge, a Disneyland for pickleball players, pizza lovers, and craft beer aficionados. Many pickleball addicts want to work in the sport, but the truth is you usually have to create a job in the sport rather than applying for one.
Along the way we realized that one of the most bittersweet aspects of entrepreneurship is the tendency for the highs of the experience to routinely be paired with a good stiff kick in the teeth.
So far the highs have been things like incredibly positive feedback from members and non-members alike, a supportive player community that revels in the physical and mental impacts of the fastest growing sport in the country, and the support of the township in which The Lodge is located.
Our concept has been embraced by essentially everyone who walks through the door. Upon entering The Lodge, many of them experience a childlike sense of wonder as they grasp the scale of our 17 indoor, individually-fenced courts.
It is enormously gratifying to see their reaction and talk to them about both the facility and the community growing around it. It is a very welcome payoff for a couple years of really hard work.
A Geyser in the Parking Lot
The most aggravating part of the experience to date though is the common occurrence of really good news being followed closely by extraordinarily bad news. In a recent example, an almost 10-month project of creating exterior street-level signage for The Lodge culminated in the sign company finally showing up to begin the process of installing it.
My partner and I gleefully chose the location for the sign and left the installers in charge of digging a large hole that would become a deep concrete foundation for the 10-foot tall sign.
As we left them to their work and walked back into the facility, it felt like a real milestone had been achieved. No longer would our guests be greeted by a rickety temporary sign, but rather by a paddle-shaped sign that we worked very hard to create.
But now it’s time for the kick in the teeth. This particular one came in the form of the sign team tearing open a water line that had been improperly marked deep below the surface of the ground. After creating a literal geyser that rapidly filled the four foot-deep hole with cold, muddy water, they came inside to share the news and strategize about what to do next.
The Learning
With the geyser as the backdrop, here are the three things we’ve learned from a couple years of good strong kicks in the teeth. First, no detail in your entrepreneurial journey is too small. You cannot possibly be anal enough. It is always your job to ensure that every water line is marked, every order is placed correctly, and every team member understands the vision. If you leave any of this up to someone else, you will routinely be disappointed.
Second, you have to safely deposit the highest highs into a mental bank from which you can withdraw when you need them. And trust me, you’ll need them. These deposits are a safeguard against future disappointment. If you leave the bank empty, the lowest lows will eat you alive.
Third, patience is the ultimate virtue. When a water line gets broken, it has to be fixed. Fixing it means pumping out the water, crimping the pipe, cutting the pipe, replacing two feet of it, filling the original hole, choosing a new sign location, correctly marking the water line, and then starting the original process all over again. You have to come to grips with delays as bumps in the road, not car-swallowing sinkholes.
Eventually, we will forget the site of a hot tub-sized hole filled with muddy water, experience the ecstasy of seeing our new sign, and watch thousands of cars a day drive by it. We might have a couple loose teeth, but it will all be worth it.
