John Linton
I hadn't realised until someone close to me pointed out that I was now working longer hours than I had ever done in time that she has known me and that since having a lap top constantly in easy reach I have become even more involved in the detailed operation of Exetel than in the very early start up days. It's both the pleasure and the curse of starting up a business that you are inevitably involved in every detail of its operation.
It's true that I no longer remember the names of the first 100 ADSL1 customers we connected but I do remember some of them who are still with us and I still know many of the posters in the Exetel forum and some of the people who make comments about these musings. I was reminded of the intensity of this involvement when, instead of enjoying what was on the TV screen late last night, not that it mattered - I'm sure it was forgettable, I was posting on the Exetel forum and emailing various Exetel people trying to get three different customer's issues resolved.
A more pragmatic person than I obviously am would say that if I thought it necessary to provide such help I should put in place the paid personnel to provide it - which is absolutely correct - they would obviously be able to a much better job than I am capable of. However, the curse of the small business is that – ‘I'll just do this - it won't take a moment' ethos is why people start up their own businesses in the first place and then the tyranny of financial planning and restriction ensure that you continue to do many things that should now be done by other people long before the time you eventually come to that conclusion.
The other 'pleasure' reason is, of course, that you do get a lot of pleasure from helping other people and in doing so also help the business you are responsible for. I have a number of friends, of a similar age and background, who all hold very senior positions in large companies and whose working days are very different in content to mine – though from what I can tell not very different in length for the most part. I sometimes think about what would my days be like today if I hadn’t left IBM for such wrong reasons all those years ago? On balance my years with IBM were easily the most enjoyable of my working life and although I’ve had many truly enjoyable work experiences since then – the IBM days still remain my ‘favourite years’.
Until now.
Although there is no ‘jet setting’, no hundred percent clubs, no sales training weeks and management training months or overseas work experience trips, working at Exetel is more enjoyable despite the ‘mundane’ nature of so much of what I do each day.
…and I now know why.
I had a fantastic 9 – 10 years with IBM from my very early 20s to my very early 30s but, I have to admit despite whatever IBM’s reputation may have been for ruthlessly getting blood out of a stone in terms of working hours/days I really had trouble filling in most of a morning, let alone a full day, with ‘work’ and I was always very successful in every position I held over those years. Although I and the sales teams I managed made and exceeded all sales quotas/targets with monotonous regularity nothing that I/we achieved really made the slightest difference to IBM’s objectives and continued success.
The contrast with Exetel is now, I spend almost every waking minute doing something that has a direct bearing on whether Exetel is successful in just staying financially viable and, on really good days, I may get to do something that actually inspires some sort of progress. A very big difference in what I personally feel though, of course, I fully understand that what Exetel is currently achieving is of neglible to nil importance in Australian life.
But, and I think this is the difference……
…….. by working in a small company you can AIM to make some sort of real difference which is why you are able to tell those close to you when they tell you “you’re working too long and too hard” that there is some real point now to the time and effort you are spending doing ‘menial’ tasks that you should have grown out of decades ago. I actually think what I do is important to more than keeping food on the table and this is only the second time I’ve felt that way in the whole of my working life.
Maybe no fool like an old fool also applies.