This morning I woke up to an email in my inbox with the subject line ‘It always takes longer than you think’. The message was from Guy Raz, the host of ‘How I Built This’ and was a reflection on a recent interview he had done with Seth Berkowitz of Insomnia Cookies. There was a section in particular that caught my attention…
“Seth’s Insomnia story has a little bit of everything: skyrocketing success, near catastrophic failure, late nights, sweat, and tears. There were dozens of times when he almost – and maybe should have – given up.
As you’ll hear Seth share, a tiny sliver of hope kept him going. He always felt like he was just around the corner from breaking through. And well, nearly 15 years into the business, he finally did…”
I believe that when this email hit my inbox this morning, it was in fact a direct message from the universe reminding me that ‘It always takes longer than you think’. You could replace ‘Seth’ and ‘Insomnia’ with ‘Jess and Matt’ and ‘HUCX’ and you’d be telling our story. This week we’ve had a little bit of everything… Success, failure, late nights, sweat and tears.
To be honest, it's been like that for the last 10 years. We lived like this for so long that the chaos and stress of running a business is now ‘normal’ to us. Our way of living (or surviving in some cases) is the only reality our family has ever known. This is the only life our kids know. They are so used to last minute pivots when we need to get something finished that it hardly phases them at all.
This week was a classic example of me having back to back meetings on Wednesday evening and Matt getting stuck onsite and not making it home in time to pick up the kids from After School Care. Luckily we could ring in some (amazing) friends at the very last minute to grab the kids and feed them dinner. This is obviously a very stressful situation as a parent but the kids just take it in their stride. If anything it was a fun adventure for them.
I’m not necessarily proud of this way of living. If you know me at all in real life, I’m VERY organised and draw great strength from a well managed work and family calendar. As a devoted stoic I know that I can only control my own actions but having a well organised calendar and clearly defined boundaries makes life a lot easier. Unfortunately HUCX can blow in and suck up all the oxygen making it hard to breathe.
He always felt like he was just around the corner from breaking through.
It was so comforting to read this line because not only does everything take longer than you think but being constantly on the precipice of breakthrough is what keeps you coming back. I think that is the hardest idea to grapple with, especially after a massive week. It would be SO easy to throw in the towel and admit that this is just too hard but we’re so close… We’re ALWAYS so close…
Big wins mixed in with big losses. Constant conversation and iterations. Success versus failure. Good news or a good story. This is what running a business is and even as we hit the 10 year mark I feel like there is so much more we need to learn, understand and put into practice. This is why I love ‘How I built this’ podcast because it looks at the founder's whole journey, not just the successful business they now run.
There are always massive stories of heartache, loss, debt, late nights and failure that needed to happen to reach the growth, success and return. The challenge is the path and I often think about that when reflecting on our life. A few years ago there was a potential tiny home project that would’ve kept us busy and flush for years - it didn’t work out but imagine if it had? We’d have stopped advocating for affordable and sustainable housing. Our prefab system never would have evolved to the scale it has today. There would’ve been no reason for me to go out networking if we were comfortable which in turn would’ve meant I’d never become a Future Shaper and realise that I could be destined for something far bigger than my original plans.
While it may have been nice to get our house built quicker and seen more ROI sooner, it would’ve completely changed the type of business we’ve become, or are becoming. It would’ve completely changed my trajectory and I dare say, we may not have been as passionate about our product if it was only for the luxury accommodation industry. It’s almost impossible to imagine what life could’ve been like and to be honest, I don’t like to dwell on it because it's pointless.
I would rather spend my time celebrating the life we do have, including the hard parts because challenges are opportunities in disguise. It definitely doesn’t feel like that in the moment, but in hindsight it's perfectly clear that it couldn’t have happened any other way. “Smooth seas don’t make skilful sailors” as the old saying goes.
