Failure

There comes a time, I'm sure, when every small business owner thinks to himself, "I don't know what I'm doing, this is crazy, I should get out of this business." For me, that was yesterday.

As I sat looking at a small mountain of bills, as I updated my web site to say I couldn't put the beds in the Boys' Room together (thus alienating 90% of my target audience), as I struggled to get wi-fi access through the stone walls, and as I thought about how much more it would take to get this place where I want it to be, I just despaired.

But then I overheard Dawn asking one of the guests how she slept, and that guest told her she was up at 4am, sitting in the window well and marvelling at how beautiful and peaceful it was, how the mansion was so inviting and comfortable, and that just brightened my day. I realized that all the sacrifices we'd made, the money we'd spent, the arguments we'd had, they were all worth it just to have one person come and tell us how nice it made them feel.

Of course, that was yesterday. Today I have three more loads of laundry and two bathrooms to clean; a shopping list a mile long and a to-do list that's even longer; my computer doesn't work and I smell gas when I turn on the oven; and it's 97 degrees outside with 80% humidity. Somebody else better come quick and tell me how nice it is again.

And bring their checkbook; that mountain of bills isn't going to go away on its own.