Affolter Academy

My wife and I were helping our son while his wife is away on a business trip. The kids are up at 7:00 and at school or daycare by 8:00. I was surprised that the kids could get ready so fast.

My son has to take one child to school. His wife takes the other two to daycare. Then they both go to work.

I’d forgotten what working parents have to go through. Then I remembered.

“Remember when I used to go to the office and prepare for the day, then come home and wake everybody up and we’d take kids to school?”

My wife nodded.

That’s what it was like for me as a professional entrepreneur. Few people realize what happens behind the scenes. In the beginning, I did everything. If it needed to be done, I did it. Later I hired employees.

I once had an employee say, “You just want me to do the things you don’t want to do.”

In her mind, she was too good to clean the toilets and make coffee.

I replied, “You are right. That’s how it works. I made the coffee and cleaned the toilets until I made enough money to hire someone else to do it. Yesterday, the doctor made coffee and cleaned the toilets. Today, you do it. You don’t have the training to do anything else.”

I wound up letting that employee go. However, we remained in contact. She is now in her 60s and still looking for minimum wage jobs. She never tried to improve herself with training beyond what work trained her to do. She never wanted to be in management. So, she remained at a minimum wage level skill set.

I started with memories of being a working parent. Then a memory of the extra work of being an entrepreneur. Followed by an example of someone who never improved her skillset. How does it all tie together?

Professional schools teach us to be professionals. We are not taught to be entrepreneurs. That is an additional skillset. Entrepreneurs must either do it all or hire people to do what they can’t. Hiring people who actually know what they are doing can be a challenge. It is even more difficult if you don’t know either.

That is why knowing the basics is so important. You can get a great start with my course, 20-20 Business Basics for Healthcare Entrepreneurs. During the Kickoff, you can get the course for free. Just click here. Kickoff ends March 17, 2023.