This past weekend, while stuck in a car impaired by the snow, on a virtually one-lane mountain road, in a blizzard, in the dark, facing the likelihood that I might very well spend the night in a car, my girlfriend–in an attempt to lighten the mood, I’m sure–asked if I was going to blog about our ordeal.
“No” was my rather curt response.
And, I won’t.
But, I WILL talk about the AWESOME car ride we had on Sunday morning with the owner of the property at which we stayed (as we were finally making our way home). He was no ordinary West Virginian mountain man (whatever that means). He was an insightful, opinionated, multi-business owner who had a thing or two (or five) to say. He talked about everything from business to faith to history to current events. A few principles he shared (in no particular order):
• Business can be hard. Don’t let it consume you or you can become a work-aholic (Doh! FAIL. LOL)
• Make time to unplug and get away from it all
• Your mind can take you anywhere
• Find love and peace
• Global business is the future
• Try to get experience abroad
• If you want to run a business, go work for someone else first. Get experience then launch your own business
• “Control” is a dangerous word. It indicates a pride issue. Running a business is about people, not about control
• Start the day w/a joke, make your employees laugh. It will go a long way
• True love is about sacrifice
• Always follow your heart
One particular question I asked was:
Me: How do you keep balance as a business owner?
Mountain Man: I live here.
Period.
Full stop.
Eom.
I loved it.
My epic weekend ended with an hour-long ride full of random philosophical (and 100% relevant) musings from an enterprising yet simple (self-described) mountain man. Universal truths are just that; irrespective of geography, industry, or level of education, they hold. I am grateful for his honesty and for his perspective. I am grateful for his wisdom.
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