Run Uphill - Selena's Story

A dear friend does accounting (and everything else) for a small contractor who refuses to grow, and neither of them realize how much suffering her employer provides her.

Selena (fake name) has a close relationship with the owner, and they produce exceptional work, but basically everything stopped changing before she ever joined.

They don’t really use email, they don’t use QuickBooks, they don’t use JobTread, they have an intricate all-paper system for jobs, and - of course - it’s all word of mouth with a 3 page website.

I get a feeling that Selena holds everything together. She’s on a first name basis with all their clients and core trades, she wrangles their paper system, and has built accounting and project spreadsheets.

She’s passionate about the business. She has a great relationship with the owner and is proud of what they do for the community and their clients.

I’m sure this is comfortable for the owner and his project manager / partner. It sounds like they’re both slowly retiring, but it’s hard for me to hear about her struggles at work. On top of all this friction that the owner clings to, her pay is capped. “Busy” is entirely a technological bottleneck.

I see an exceptional human being an exceptional asset, but instead of opportunity, she’s met with stability and a constricted career.

Growth is an interesting thing. There are so many people who figured out how to get very comfortable in life, so likely are fully aware of simple changes that could lead to continued growth, but they just don’t do it. They could create temporary discomforts to cause even more comfort - less hours, sooner retirement, more savings - but they just don’t.

I subtly bring this to Selena, and I hear her echo her friend and employer’s reasons to stay the same.

Growth is not exclusively about more hours, a bigger business, surrounding yourself with workaholics, stepping on people with less, or manipulating clients into overpaying.

Growth is about being happy even though life is impermanent.

Growth is about surrounding yourself with people who want to be happy despite impermanence.

In order to do those things, you must adapt, and you must market your business. That requires discomfort. You must be uncomfortable learning boring tools that you don’t enjoy. You must be uncomfortable straining friendships with the people you’re pushing to adopt those new tools. You must be uncomfortable telling people to pay premium prices for premium things. You must be uncomfortable removing the people and suppliers that don’t adapt with you.

I wish I could get Selena’s employer to understand these things. He could fully retire sooner, and he could create abundance and more meaning for my friend.