The BLOG: Voices
You’re not too busy, you’re just too lazy: One CEO’s take on the whiners
Kyle S. Reyes | June 22, 2016
(Adobe Stock photo)
I’m sick and tired of people who complain that “the economy sucks” while they sit around at happy hour every day and whine that their business is in the toilet.
I’m done with people who talk about how much they hate their job – just like they’ve done for the past six years.
I’m beyond fed up with people who demand “free education for all” because THEY made the decision to go to a $50K a year school and have chosen to backpack across the country instead of trying to find a job to pay off their bills.
I’m over people who won’t return calls, won’t send you quotes and won’t get back to your emails – but will bitch that there’s “not enough business.”
Enough. It’s time for you to shut up.
Oh, sorry, did I forget the “trigger warning”?
No, really. I know you’re probably used to people being nice to you and this is going to hurt your tender feelings.
It’s not that the economy sucks.
It’s not that there’s not enough business.
It’s not that your boss sucks.
Face it. Maybe, just maybe, YOU suck.
Time for some context.
I’ve got a buddy that’s been through eight “careers” in eight years. “You don’t know what it’s like, man. I just get the worst bosses.”
Right. It’s totally them.
Then there are the last four contractors who I’ve asked for quotes for projects at my house. They all complained while they were at my house looking at the project about how the economy sucks. Then they waited four weeks to give me quotes. Then they flipped because by the time they responded, I had already found someone else.
There’s of course the woman I do business with (she’s an “entrepreneur”) who tells me she can’t keep up with the bills because of the horrendous economy. That’s apparently why she can’t find clients. It has nothing to do with the fact that she’s spent more time taking selfies in the past year than she has hustling to grow her business. Oh, and she also doesn’t work weekends because “weekends are for recovery.” Presumably from those long happy hours.
So it’s time for some ground rules.
1) There’s no such thing as “too busy.” What if you were in the middle of a project and you had someone offer you a check for $100K if you stopped what you were doing and delivered the task they needed in 24 hours? Would you still be “too busy”? Nope. So stop with the “I’m too busy” and perhaps reconsider how you structure priorities.
2) If you own your own business and you are putting in fewer than 12 hours a day, then you don’t get pity that your business isn’t doing well. You get a big glass of shut the hell up. Because it means you have a tremendous amount of “hustle” left before you earn the right to whine. And the truth of the matter is that if you hustle harder, you’ll grow the business and won’t have time or the need to whine.
Perhaps it’s time you stop whining and start working. There’s a whole world out there waiting to do business with you. But it’s not just going to come to you.
Kyle Reyes is President and CEO of The Silent Partner Marketing. He’s also an acclaimed keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and social media. You can find him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Snapchat @dasilentpartner. Read his past blogs here.
