An alcoholic step-dad is about to marry into the family and be part of your life for the next 20+ years. Despite the storm that you’re about to walk into, not all will be lost. You’ll get a bunch of amazing siblings from it.
You’ll also learn how NOT to approach finances nor raise a family. That will guide you in creating the most loving, welcoming family environment when you welcome your first kid at 29.
Just a few years before that first kid, you’ll also start your first business at 25. That’s also the age you get married.
You knew that you’d have a family one day, so you took the entrepreneurial leap. You made the right decision to grind it out before you had kids so that you could be financially stable and have freedom of time once you became a family man.
You’ll think, “how cool is it to be self-employed?” And, rightfully so.
About a year later, you’ll hire your first team member. Yes, you’ll now help others provide for their family, too. What’s crazy is that first employee will still be with you 14 years later.
Yep, you’re approaching 15 years as a business owner now and have a team of 20.
But check this out. You’re in the middle of a global pandemic and worldwide financial tidal wave. You’re fortunate, though. Not only are you good, but this month you’re already on track for a record year. And that’s on top of the new record set just last year.
As of writing this letter, you’re also scaling that team of 20 up to 30. You just hired three more peeps this week alone. (Yes, you still say “peeps.”)
You’ll have a sense of pride in providing stability for your family as well as your team during such an unstable economy. Besides the obvious, you’re proud because this isn’t your first time riding out a recession. About a year or so after starting your business, “the Great Recession” hit in 2008. That was one of your strongest years as well. Because you establish trust with your clients, and they double down on their faith in you and your team when times are tough elsewhere.
Get ready for a bunch of years of suck as a kid. But change nothing. Because everything that you’re about to go through is where you learn everything that will eventually help you know what makes you tick. This will gift you being able to know when you found the right one to spend forever with, make you “the coolest dad ever” to three (their words… maybe…) by knowing how to appreciate them, build an international marketing company, work with billion-dollar brands (you even end up having a division of your hometown Utah Jazz as a client!!!), and help even mom and pop businesses grow. You treat your team like family and support them faithfully, and you’re respected by your peers.
DON’T. CHANGE. ANYTHING.
PS
I know you joked in your 20’s that it’d be cool to retire by 40. You just might, after all.
