Where is that puck going to be?

Risk and security are two reoccurring themes for me in my relationship with an entrepreneurial husband.  In my last post I talked about how a situation could be perceived as risky by some and not by others.  I was pretty positive in that post, and while that is my ideal state of mind, I don’t always start out there.

Last year at this time, Scott was just getting his third venture, a blog writing service, off the ground. He also had a consulting gig that required him to fly out of state for 4 or 5 days, 1-2 times a month. He doesn’t like to travel and as his interest in his new business grew, he liked the travel less and less. He knew his future was not going to be that consulting gig, but rather the new company, Blogmutt.

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. --Wayne Gretzky

I think you could call this a Catch 22 – if Scott  did not concentrate on the new business he would be stuck on a plane flying to his consulting work. If he stayed in the role he did not care for he could fund the new business but not have enough time to work on it. After months and months of transition, he finally decided to leave that work so he could develop his business.

Let me say that I was not thrilled with that decision. Logically I understood it. And I really liked that he had a business he was interested in and excited about. But it meant that I would be responsible for financially supporting our family for the short term, short to be defined by the company’s success. And that bugged me, and looking deeper, I would say that scared me.

Scott was very dedicated to the new business and doing all that he could to ensure its success.  I tried to figure out how to deal with the pressure of being the only breadwinner. I decided to buy disability insurance, so that if anything happened to me, our house payment would at least be covered. That helped me to mitigate the pressure I felt, and somewhere along the line, with that and the growing success of Blogmutt, I became comfortable with my role.   

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." (Also Gretzky)