The Business Pilgrimage

Personally, I like to think of life as a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey that we embark upon sometime between the cradle and grave, whereby we find meaning through seeking a higher purpose, whereby we live and die leaving the better part of humanity’s mark upon this small blue dot of a planet we call earth. 

At least that is what I hope for, and since my life is wrapped up in my businesses (on a daily, hourly, and minute by minute basis), I must ask:

Can a business, or the life one lives along the business path, also be considered a pilgrimage?

Certainly, we all experience a journey as we embark out into the world, whether that be from home to school, school to profession or a trade, starting a business, staying home with the children, or taking on the needs of others (like our parents or siblings as they age).  Can these things be a form of spiritual pilgrimage too?

If we are talking on things that are relating to or are affecting us on a level of conscious or unconscious thought and behavior, then yes; these things too can be spiritual, and are most definitely going to affect the deepest parts of our human spirit:

A bad or good day at work (whatever that means),
A child’s tantrum leading to an adult’s tantrum (because let’s be honest we are all childish at times),
Having to deal with a terrible boss versus the experience of a loving partner’s embrace,
Having to deal with a terrible partner versus the experience of a kind boss’ directions,
Dealing with terrible clients,
Being a terrible client to others,
The kind guidance of a professor (even though we do not always like to be told what to do),
The mentorship of an amazing leader,
The feeling of a bad grade on a test or paper when you thought you would get a perfect score,
The day a business deal goes your way and the day it doesn’t,
The day you see an old friend retire and you are happy for them knowing that they will do something wonderful, but yet saddened by the simple fact that they are now gone.
The day you bury that someone, something, dream, ambition, desire, hope, or aspiration,
And the day you breath into this world some new, great, passionate idea or vision.  

For me, owning my own businesses have created an internal spiritual movement, which at times is guttural, like a response to a ball flying at your face; if you don’t try to catch it then you will be hit head on.  Sometimes, you just brace and prepare for impact, anticipating the grimace, realizing there is not enough time to even put your arm up.

However, there are other times where you catch the ball without incident, and better yet, it is the pop-fly that wins the World Series game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you always learn a lot about yourself if you are willing to replay the tape and self-reflect.  

There is learning to be had in the cradle to grave approach to a business. When we start a job, a business, a marriage, or a new life changing event, we normally do not start by thinking about how it will end. We start at the beginning, but is that too short sighted? 

If only we could see the future,
If only we could know what was going to happen,
All of the butterfly effects that would ripple through,
All of the good and bad decisions leading to conflicts and resolutions,
All of the worry that never mattered in the end,
All of the friendships and loves, enemies and foes, places we would never have dreamed of going, places we always thought we would certainly make it to but never did.

Business has become a real pilgrimage for me.

I spend all my time wrapped up in the realities of owning and operating a business. I spend day and night marketing, selling, and doing the projects that arise; some as a reaction to my efforts, some as shear luck. Putting the work in has been the first step. From day one it was like this:

Taking the first step (which meant quitting my day job),
Writing a business plan (which included the vision, the projections, the analysis, and the SWOT),
Finding insurances, (for myself, employees, professional, liability, pollution, and so much more et al.),
Finding loans, (starting with crowd funding from Kiva, a personal from distant family, the disadvantaged small business loan through the County for new businesses, and finally on to traditional bank lending),
Finding employees, (which meant student interns at first, on to junior staff, and then on to experts)
Securing and learning equipment and programs, (which meant studying day and night for whatever amount of time it took, calling on others better at it than me, networking with developers and engineering experts, taking classes and continued education, and on and on it still goes to this day…),
Getting licenses, and then keeping and maintaining them (which meant money, paperwork, and then more money)…and this is just the beginning of the list.

Being in business has defined my “being” for the last decade. It has been a gift and yet a curse. It has been my sleep and wake, my moon and sun, my life for better or worse. I traded one boss for many (all my clients). They can fire me at a whim, without cause, due to markets changing, a small remark, something not well enough performed, some misperception, or change of mode and direction within their organization. Being in business has taught me a lot. It has taught me just how much I do not know, and how with even another few hundred years I would still be a few centuries short of understanding the world of Homo sapiens. It has taught me about sexism, classism, racism, mood-disorders, addiction, and disability. It has taught me about inclusion, diversity, equity, and where we need to keep going. It has taught me about irony, anger, bureaucracy, and process.  It has taught me to follow the rules. It has taught me to break the rules. It has taught me to take the fall, because the buck stops with me, whether it was my fault or not. It has taught me to write better, speak better, think better, and be better. It has taught me that I am both smart and talented, yet full of shit, and egotistical. I have seen others arrogance, and learned of my own, which is a hard pill to swallow at first, but well worth shedding the light of day on in order to be a better human.  Business has taught me a lot about who I am, and who I am not, who I want to be, and who I do not want to be. Business has been a pilgrimage of the soul, and has show me my short comings, my pit falls, my worst, and my best qualities.    

My grandfather and grandmother’s generation of family all had their own businesses. They succeeded and failed on the crash of markets and industries and survived the various World Wars. They ate and wore whatever they had, they fixed their own old and tattered clothes, they woke at 3AM and worked their fingers to the bones, and they died as free and as happy as they could be for that time period.

My father and mother’s generation chose instead to work for others, opting to lessen the dangers of being in business for themselves, seeking security, retirement, and less risk. They built wealth by working hard for others, and by working hard for themselves. They were veterans to this great country, and they taught the next generations to be better. Their profession was of the professor and teacher, and they taught to all people, no matter what creed, sex, nationality, race, or religion. They taught in the public and private circles of education, they taught in the prisons, they taught from kindergarten through university.   

Now here I sit in this generation, with so many humans wanting to create their own path, wanting to create their own way and vision. Here in this time, the name “entrepreneur” is no longer a bad word, although perhaps a bit overused, over-pursued, and over-glorified. Here I sit, owner of a successful business, wondering how I would do things differently if I had to do it all over again, and how I would want it all to end.  Have I done everything right? Have I made the right choices, worked hard enough, worked too much, risked too little, risked too much, tried hard enough to make those contacts, secured those contracts, performed those extra little efforts needed to be the best businessperson that I can be? Along the way, did I retain me, the human part, the non-business entity that is Daniel?  Like they say, “more will be revealed”, and “only time will tell”.

So yes, this has been a spiritual journey, embarked upon sometime between the cradle and grave, whereby I have found meaning through seeking a higher purpose, whereby I have so far lived, but not yet died, hopefully leaving my version of humanity’s mark upon this small blue dot of a planet we call earth.