It’s October 18th, 2017. The first day of my next thing. And the first day writing this blog that I’ve promised myself I’d update every week to document my journey.
Three months ago, I officially left the company that my best friend and I started 14 years ago. Since the restaurant business is all-consuming, my life, identity and heart (and those of my wife and 3 boys) were inextricably linked with the company.
Anyway, as a part of the transition, I stayed on as a “consultant” for 90 days. And today, that gig is up.
Today, I start again. But at 41 years old, I’m starting with a different worldview than I had at 27. This time, I understand what matters most to me in the next company I help create, the culture our team builds, and the impact we have on our community. I’m acutely aware of legacy and inspired by the need to put forth goodness into the world. So, I’m starting on “Day 1” by writing a couple of the important things I learned from my last entrepreneurial journey. I know they’ll be fundamental to what’s next.
First, while I felt the full gamut of emotions through the process of leaving (from depression to liberation), the most profound one was raw, overwhelming gratitude. The act of saying goodbye personally to hundreds of people who contributed parts of their life to something you started is completely humbling. And the memory of that feeling is indelible in me. I always thought that I appreciated the success of our business. But, leaving made me feel gratitude in a way that I never would if I had stayed. Leaving granted me new perspective to become a more empathetic and effective manager and leader. But mostly, leaving showed me that at the end, it’s the people and the relationships that are all we are left with and all that matter.
Second, when we started our restaurant business, I was inspired by the belief that we could change an industry ridden with chains serving industrialized food. (It’s hard to remember, but 14 years ago, our food landscape looked completely different.) I was inspired by the belief that we were bringing healthy food to a world that didn’t have it. But, as our company scaled, that landscape changed. Healthy food was popping up all around us. And while that’s a great thing, I started to realize that it wasn’t necessarily a great thing for everybody. I understood that just like our food landscape, the ways to have impact changed, too. Making a difference meant resisting the system that provides healthy food based on the neighborhood you grow up in or the kind of job you have. So, I know that I want to do work that helps make sure healthy food is for everyone.
I got next! 