What Makes an Entrepreneur? Perspiration (6/11)

by Mark Suster on December 21, 2009

PushThis is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful.  I originally posted it onVentureHacks, one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should.

I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity.  I then covered Street Smarts, Ability to Pivot, Resiliency and Inspiration.

Lucas Daily made the comment:

I’m a little disappointed. I agree with every part of the article, but I was hoping for some discussion about inspiration in the idealism/activism sense, and less the charisma sense.

When looking for great entrepreneurs for me it’s not sufficient to find a large dose of one or two attributes.  As I’ve said previously, tenacity without flexibility in approach (pivot) doesn’t produce great results.  Neither does an inspirational leader who doesn’t get things done.  We all know the type: they’re great on stage at conference but they spend all their time on the circuit.  They’re great in front of our largest customers but you try to keep them away from your staff so they don’t get things off course by throwing in recommendations and then not following through on delivery.  A great leader requires both Inspiration and Perspiration.

If you haven’t seen Invictus yet (here’s the trailer) you should. It chronicles some of the first year in office of Nelson Mandela.  He worked so hard that he passed out from exhaustion.  His secret service bodyguards complained that they didn’t have enough breaks.  He was tireless in advocating his positions.

6. Perspiration – The most poignant quote for this attribute comes from Thomas Edison, “Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”  Well for entrepreneurs it’s probably a healthy dose of both.  I know you think a VC would take for granted that all entrepreneurs work hard but you can tell the difference between those that see this as merely a slightly longer version of their last big job and those that are maniacal about what they’re doing.  My favorite example is Jason Nazar, the CEO of DocStoc.  There’s no ‘off button’ on this guy.  He’s always open for business.  If I’m up super late trying to crank out work I often get IM messages from Jason at 1am.  He attends many social events in the LA scene but he seems to always go back to the office afterward.

There was a recent TechCrunch UK article  by an anonymous VC (yes, I think posting anonymously is chicken shite) that talked about the work ethic of European tech companies versus those Silicon Valley.  I retweeted this article and get some people in Europe telling me it was unfair.  It’s not.  The reality is that many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs / companies are obsessive and maniacal about their businesses in the way that many others around the world are not.  It’s not just Europe.  We get the same criticism in Los Angeles.

But that  doesn’t have to be you.  If you want a safe job or a balanced job don’t be an entrepreneur.  I recently posted some startup advice about the need for entrepreneurs to have a bias toward action or JFDI (a play on the Nike slogan).  Well the second sign I had on the wall of my first startup was SITE.  Ask anybody who worked with me.  It stood for “Sleep is the Enemy.”  I honestly believe that in this hyper-connected global economy where technology has leveled the playing field it is unfortunately what it takes to be number 1.  And the other harsh fact is that in the tech world it seems that the largest company gets the most outsized returns.

For every person who comes into my office with a good idea I respond, “Don’t worry about your failure, worry about your success.  If you fail, you move on.  But if your good idea pops big time then trust me there will be three PhDs from Stanford sharing a cheap apartment in San Jose working around the clock to beat you.  They’ll be eating Ramen (OK, I usually say Taco Bell, but that’s just me …) every night and saving their pennies to pour into the company.”  You’ll get over your failed company.  You’ll never get over coming up with a great idea, getting initial traction and watching someone else get all the glory (and financial returns).

It may be unfair, but it’s the reality of capitalism.  It’s the dynamic that drives innovation.  In the future they won’t only be in San Jose but also in Shanghai, Seoul and Bangalore.  If you’re not prepared to be “all in” then you’re not prepared to build a huge company.  You think Marc Benioff built Salesforce.com into a multi-billion company by having a good idea?  Sure, he’s a phenomenal speaker, but I can tell you from having been on the inside that even now this guy never shuts off.  He’s driven.  He creates the success at Salesforce.com.  He’s a billionaire and he still works harder than many startups.  Are you willing to go that hard for that long?

Share and Enjoy:
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • FriendFeed
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • HackerNews
  • Suggest to Techmeme via Twitter
  • email
  • Print
  • Franco Arda
    fantastic article Mark !!!
    thank you for sharing your wisdom with us (and thanks to VentureHacks)
  • Thanks for the quote! When I checked your site from my phone while my date was in the bathroom my exclamation earned some strange looks from the other restaurant patrons.

    Great post, comments and anecdotes. Some brief additions to the conversation.

    When starting a new project there is a tipping point at which spending more time actually becomes easier. For me somewhere around the 60 hours per week mark a switch is flipped and I realize “This is what I do.” After that realization my default thoughts and activities becomes the project. Life simplifies because the answer to any opportunity for distraction becomes No. Finding and crossing that tipping point (or maybe breaking-point would be more apt) is essential. Live-work balance becomes living through work.

    Be a Force of Nature. No one can beat a force of nature.

    Channel the Manhattan Project. It’s easier when you’re building something with “nuclear” impact, but if you don’t see your duty in such biblical terms no one else will.

    I am very fortunate to have a background as a design architect. The studio environment in bachelors and masters programs forces students into a work-based lifestyle that translates directly into professional design teams. The team dynamic and lifestyle seems almost unequally mirrored in web startups. There just aren’t many fields where 80-hour-a-week team-based design is taught, though it is essential in the real world. Our educational system may be falling short in teaching what is becoming an essential lifestyle skill.
  • Astor Place
    Working hard and utilize time well are two different things. People are more attracted to personality than work ethics, efficiency and so forth. I have found more often than not, that its not necessarily hard work that brings results. What I see bringing results are the social bugs who enjoy to be in the limelight and gather maximum attention to themselves. These people may know little about managing their time well, or may not even have great business sense or get anything done in time and spend 8 hours on somehing that only needs to take 1, but they often manage to get success because of their ability to network and create contacts from everything.
  • my co-founder shared this link with me. very poignant article!
  • Ya know Mark, I'm not in the hunt as a tech startup, but I am hungry as a independent business owner. Thanks for the straight talk.
  • thomsinger
    My wife told me once "you work all the time, or think about work... but it is okay because it is also you hobby... you like it this way". I had a friend ask me when I would quit chasing my dreams.... he wondered at what point I should give up. My answer was that the only thing I knew for sure was that 100% of those who quit do NOT reach their goal. I love getting up and trying to figure out the path to growing my business each day.
  • Great series. I am really curious as to what's next.

    As to hard work and no sleep, perspiration, etc. During my first Masters degree I did not sleep 11 nights in one quarter and 5 of which were in a row. I learned then that there is such thing as not enough sleep and too much work - that was 12 years ago. My first company when I was 19 I once did not sleep 3 nights in a row and did not eat, drink or go to the restroom. I scored a big project and a kidney failure...great stories to tell but nothing I would advise other people to try.
    Since I have learned to pace (I am now training for the marathon...and have been a casual runner for long as a method to train my patience and pacing). Pace is very important, and anyone knows it who has perspired and fell flat from overdoing it has felt the heartache of not being able to keep up. After my 5 straight nights ordeal I learned that one can go forever with almost no sleep but productivity does suffer. So does good judgment. Starting up my company this was extremely useful. I had 2 babies at home, a PhD to finish and a team of developers +9 hours away. I often sleep 3-4 hours a night and about two 20-30 minute cat naps during the day :)...and, I do work...not spend time on facebook and such things - all things aside, I am proud to always find time for everything and keep a priority list - talk about a needed ability, the ability to prioritize (it's a lifelong project)...
  • Sleep is the enemy, except when you get inspiration from your dream
  • only the paranoid survive and it's a total marathon, not a sprint. I could not agree more about the point about balance (or lack thereof, specifically) - the one thing that is universally true about good entrepreneurs is that they never shut it off. That's probably the most exhausting part about being an entrepreneur - it's always your own neck on the line. And if you already successful but still driven, it's not about making more money as the measure - it's about winning as the measure. If Benioff loses, it won't change his lifestyle but it will impact his psyche because he lost in the big game. More than anything, you need the drive to always want to win. Not for a day or a week but forever. It's not like college where you get an A in a class and it's over. This is a class you have to constantly get A's in - every day, every week, every month. When you stop, you get punted by the new kid who wants to beat you.
  • I think Marc's yardstick is Larry Ellison. So even though Marc is super successful he is still probably chasing a bigger goal. And it's a pretty high water mark to achieve!
  • That's the thing about competition, there is always someone bigger, better, etc.. Every person has their cut off where they feel like they've achieved enough. No right answers there.
  • Benioff is a great example. I never worked with him, but was amazed at how late he came to the party, but still claimed ownership to the ASP/SaaS model and grew into it. There were plenty of people ahead of him - Rightnow started two years before SF started and they were often mentioned in the same context in 2000, but the gap widened quickly.
  • Well, he was pretty early, though. And the thing Benioff got right is this: when the dot-com crash came everybody cut marketing completely. Marc doubled down and therefore when you're the only person screaming in a silent room you get heard. Salesforce rose above the silence and grew rapidly when there was less competition. The rest is history.
  • "...three PhDs from Stanford sharing a cheap apartment in San Jose working around the clock...eating Taco Bell"?? Wow, I thought I had it tough living out of a garage and buying Kraft Macaroni and Cheese only when it went on sale :-)
  • My kids eat that weekly! What are you talking about? Kraft Mac n' Cheese rocks!
  • Mark, I'd be very interested in finding out your thoughts on how ambition/drive makes the entrepreneur. I think tenacity, resilience, pivoting and perspiration are functions of ambition. Street smarts and inspiration up to an extent but not as much.
  • Rahul, I think ambition is sort of a given. You must have ambition or nothing else is possible. But we meet people with ambition all the time who are not tenacious when it comes to follow up or who are ambitious but fold at the first signs of real adversity. So in a way you're totally right that ambition is required. I consider it the first step in a geometry proof. Given.
  • Yeah it is the first step like you say. To prove that the ambition is genuine, it must be demonstrated through tenacity, resilience and the other qualities.
  • Love this pearl of wisdom... "there will be three PhDs from Stanford sharing a cheap apartment in San Jose working around the clock to beat you"

    In truth it's probably very helpful to keep a photo above your monitor of the team in San Jose that is trying to eat your lunch -- http://boingboing.net/images/hatfactorydfjgn.jpg

    It's a rowing race to the finish line

    On the other hand you can cross your fingers and hope it's these 3 guys -- http://www.howtomakeatoga.info/John-Hunter-3-gu...
  • LOL. You got me! ;-)
  • ldmangin
    It is great to see how all these qualities intermix and feed off each other. Perspiration is very much akin to commitment to do what ever it takes, which is in turn something that yields inspiration for the entrepreneur and for their team - both are wasted though if the person isnt able to re-evaluate their position and pivot in a new direction (whether the choice is easy or hard). This ability to pivot is fed by a combination of street smarts and resiliency (they need to identify, accept and move on from past choices), with an ample serving of tenacity, by way of constantly setting and moving towards a never ending set of goal lines.

    Your creating a great psychological profile of entreprenaurs here! I cant wait to read the whole series.
  • I think the fact that the "complete package" of an entrepreneur is so difficult is why so few people are actually great CEOs. That's OK. Most people are best in point roles like running product management, marketing, tech, sales, etc. Having the whole set of attributes is very rare.
  • Thanks for another great post, this series is awesome. Funny coincidence: I also wrote about this exact topic today on the blog I keep for the Wash Post, specifically talking about a band (Vandaveer) which played more than *150* live shows in the first 11 months of 2009, and then bringing it back to the sheer amount of work involved in both entrepreneurship and trying to make it as a musician.

    I'm sure there are a few exceptions, but from what I've observed working for a startup related to the music industry, being obsessive and maniacal is absolutely essential to success-- most artists and entrepreneurs I know wouldn't have it any other way.
  • Just read your piece. Feel free to link next time so others can check it out. Reminds me the story about the Beatles playing constantly in Hamburg in the book Outliers. They say that that's where they perfected their act. 10,000 hours. If you haven't read the book you should. Good Xmas reading. Also reminds me of Anvil. Did you see that movie? What a wonderful film. And after all these years they finally found success. If you believe you can't ever give up.
  • Thanks so much for the Anvil Tip. What a great film. I passed on the recommendation to others that loved it as well. Cheers.
  • (Slightly off topic) Have not read OUTLIERS but do know something about the Beatles. My favorite story about them is that when Lennon met McCartney, Lennon knew McCartney was going to challenge him musically as he played better than Lennon. So Lennon had a choice: reject McCartney from his band and let himself (Lennon) be stronger, or bring McCartney in and let the band be stronger. Lennon even phrased it this way. That's pretty effective management strategy right there and shows a lot of insight from a mere 16 year old! (I've often thought one could right a good leadership book based on the history of the Beatles.)
  • Thanks for reading the piece. I've read Outliers a few times, but definitely wouldnt mind picking up again. That story about the beatles is incredible, there really is no replacement for hard work. The thing that I think most people forget, however, is that when you are doing what you love, doing that one thing that you cant imagine NOT doing, it doesn't feel like "work." The perspiration is a pleasure.

    Thanks also for the recommendation of Anvil. I havnt seen, but will definitely check out!
  • Entrepreneurs should never have an off button; if they do, stuff doesn't get done. Case and point, I papered our first outside investment on the evening before my wedding. Who knows what would have happened if I had waited a couple extra weeks to try and get it done. It may have ultimately got done or the investor may have passed, but I'm glad I didn't wait around to find out.
  • "time is the enemy of all deals" so I'm glad you got it done before your wedding. Plus, I'm sure you were more relaxed on your honeymoon!
  • Your analysis is much appreciated and right on. The personal inspiration of an entrepreneur is often the driver of their perspiration, so I would consider the former a necessary condition of the later . I love the Thomas Edison quote: “Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” But I think it conveys the value of an idea versus the execution of that idea rather than a statement of personality traits.

    Here's the crux of the biscuit for me: The radical and inspired vision of entrepreneurs can push them to work obscene hours and seems to be a requirement of both being taken seriously in the valley and success. But excessive perspiration as a requirement for success may be an artifact of the valley subculture. In fact, it seems many entrepreneurs cannot get the funding to achieve their goals unless they demonstrate near religious fanaticism to their ideas. So is it really necessary for success, or are VCs making it necessary for success by selecting only which companies to fund?

    But that zeal can also cause an entrepreneur to pursue an otherwise doomed course of action such as a product that has no market fit, just because it fits their personal vision. And what about the futility of many entrepreneurs who just plug away hour after hour long after those hours have ceased to be productive. (I tend to lose at chess at 4 am, so why should I make business decisions then?)

    So I while I believe in a strong work ethic, I don't believe it can be governed by vision alone. It has to be tempered with strategic reflection and an ability to recognize when the vision is a mirage.
  • Tristan, couple of things:

    1. I agree it's not good to blindly work hours so we're in agreement there. But working an obscene amount of hours is almost always required. I don't think VCs encourage it or make it self selecting. I think that the free market makes it's own rules and we all abide by them. You can be very successful in business with a good work/life balance. But not Facebook successful. Not Google successful. So it depends on what one's goals are.

    2. re: inspiration driving perspiration - not sure. I think many people work crazy hours and might be personally driven but lack the fundamental leadership skills to inspire others. These people make great individual contributors but seldom build scalable businesses.
  • 2) I think the distinction you're making is important, but "skills to inspire others" could be interpreted in a number of ways. Jim Collins does a great job of laying out the qualities of level five leaders (silly term, but good concept), none of which is Obama like inspirational abilities. He even seems to imply that the rock star quality may be counter productive for some. That said, I think it's possible to be motivating and a good leader without being Bono and sometimes leading by example is enough *IF* you hire people who work well with that leadership style. My favorite source for leadership know-how is master Lao Tzu: “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

    1) I am 99% with you on this one. The 1% disagreement feeds back into your point 2). The more you can motivate (I'll avoid "inspire" for the reasons above) others and hire the right people, the more balance I think life has. It comes down to HR for me. Hire the right team, and no one has to break their back. The strongest structure in the world is an arch, where the weight is distributed equally.

    My personal experience there stems from my time turning around a small 34 person subsidiary in Vietnam. I worked like a dog 24/7 and lost 20 pounds due to illness from the overwork. Eventually, the overwork was counterproductive and I shifted tact. I delegated more effectively and my managers grew in skill and confidence. Ultimately, I knew I had succeeded with the turn around when I went on vacation for two weeks without the slightest hiccup in operations. At that point, I had become replaceable and I was able to promote the head of R&D to General Manager and quit. Now I'm in San Fran on my own startup.

    Course...in a startup, I suppose you can't delegate, but if Zuck, Sergei, Andrei, etc. couldn't effectively share the load or hire people they were comfortable enough to share it with, then I think they never have gotten to the level you're talking about. No matter how many hours they would have worked.

    That said, maybe I should stop working and eat dinner now.
  • I agree with the overwork here. It is possible to overwork. And I think finding balance is very possible. it's going to be a constant zen like movement, but I keep getting remind when Caterina Fake out forward earlier that many startups overwork themselves to what end?

    Most people don't stop to think about what they are working towards. A moment of reflection could make all the difference.
  • "Most people don't stop to think about what they are working towards. A moment of reflection could make all the difference."

    Work smarter not harder - I agree with your statements, I think you hit the nail on the head.

    @Tristan "Course...in a startup, I suppose you can't delegate" - your right, I think some of the successful ones figure out which *overwork* will accomplish the most for that time spent - most of the time I see people just-put-in-too-much-work without thinking and it's unfortunately the wrong *overwork* to be doing...
  • Shana and Chris,

    Very good observations. Yes, I think that is key. A moment of reflection to figure out what is worth doing can make a huge amount of difference. I can only hope that I find this skill under the tree from Santa this year.

    Merry Christmas to everyone!
  • I agree that many entrepreneurs must work hard, and have the ability to juggle so many issues. One thing that I've seen many times that startup entrepreneurs are so stubborn believing that our ideas are great, working so hard toward them, and refusing to acknowledge that it is a potential failure when faces with negative feedback . I made this mistake too. I believe it's important to recognize the possibility of failure and adjust (fail-fast, move-on). Personally, I use market, early adopters to guide me, not the competitors. How many times we've seen throw away work in a startup (or a big company), after the team worked so hard toward a big milestone. I agree that entrepreneurs should work hard in any phases. Especially that the runway is much shorter, we have to measure the right progress. I love to hear and learn from Mark and others on their experience in deciding whether to still move forward with the original path or change path. In short, I say - work hard, adjust if it's necessary. I guess this post and 'ability to pivot' make a very good combination.

    Mark, Love your quote on 'don't worry about your failure, worry about your success" btw - the link on " the work ethic of European tech companies versus those Silicon Valley" does not work. Do you mind fixing it? thanks.
  • Fixed. Thanks for flagging.

    BTW, re: your "fail-fast, move-on" - we're in agreement. That's why I have "ability to pivot" high on my list.
  • Hi Andy, here's the working link: http://eu.techcrunch.com/2009/11/20/european-st...
  • "You’ll never get over coming up with a great idea, getting initial traction and watching someone else get all the glory (and financial returns)."

    Would love to have some examples I can dig through, please :)
  • I'd need to think about it for specific examples of big success stories but I see it in startup land all the time. Re: bigger companies ... how about Friendster getting destroyed by MySpace who in turn got destroyed by Facebook. In each case the incumbent was much better capitalized but way out innovated.

    Anyone else got examples? Let me think about it.

    Oh, and by the way, when we announced Bedrock within 2 weeks we heard about 2 other companies starting initiatives in this space. That's why I think you always need to get a good base product built before announcing it to the world.
  • "You’ll never get over coming up with a great idea, getting initial traction and watching someone else get all the glory (and financial returns)."

    I see what your saying about MySpace feeling the pinch from Facebook, but I think in that example MySpace was able to achieve glory/financial returns (for a bit of time) before getting pushed out?

    Your Bedrock example is good, although it's still so early with them, nobody's had the glory/financial returns yet (unless I'm just not aware of it) - but if they can pull off what they want to do, they'll destroy the existing ad network paradigm and make all of the existing ad networks feel that pain :)

    I'm still digging around, I would like to find some of the people behind such stories, talk to them, read their blogs, get into their heads and learn a bit about all of that from their personal experience...

    Maybe another example would be Google (a big example like MySpace and Facebook) - they came up with a better way to search and none of the existing search engines would give them the time of day, so they started their own (a success story we all know).

    How often do you find that the folks in startup land experience this and then fade away never to return and try again? Greater than 50%?
  • This is the area that undoubtedly causes the most family problems. My elderly mother can't grasp why I don't work 40 hours/week, why I have conference calls with customers on the other side of the world at 10pm each night, and why I usually have a laptop handy when we watch football games together. I still have to take her to doctors, dentists, and salons; I just can't show any sign of frustration when I do it. My wife's more understanding since she knew I was like this when we met.

    It dawned on me that Tony Soprano also had problems shielding his family from his business. In that respect, I'm lucky :-)
  • Yeah, I think it's a DNA thing. My wife told me, "I thought you weren't supposed to work entrepreneur's hours as a VC?" I said, "I'm new to being a VC ( < 3 years) so I still think of myself as a startup." Luckily for me I have a very understanding wife. She's ex Google and an ex strategy consultant so she knows the drill.
  • Funny reading your comment and thinking about timing. My wife met me *after* I had sold a company and was between things, so when I returned to "startup land" it was quite a shock to her. She's come to accept the reality that this is just the way I'm wired, and is now watching me kick off another one. I'm hoping that experience means I can work a bit smarter and find a way be effective at both entrepreneur and dad. It's definitely going to mean long hours, but that's just a given.
  • Luckily my wife met me when I had crazy hours so she knew what she was getting. And she likes to remind me that we started dating before my first startup so that I could trust her that she wasn't just in love because I had sold a company ;-)

    Oh, and the dad thing. It is REALLY hard to balance a startup and being a dad. Really hard. Only way that I know is to sleep less.
  • michaeljprichard
    Ironically, it seems as you get older and, hopefully, wiser you have less time!

    I have a wife, a new 8 month old, run a consulting business (my bread and butter) at the same time as trying to launch a new idea (eats my bread and butter :) ). I definitely sleep less. This has been the biggest struggle for me. I want to be there for my family so I definitely try to fit it all in.

    That being said, I do sometimes worry that the 3 guys fresh from Stanford are going to beat me. The question I think is is there really any way you can work that "hard" after you have a family? Maybe the trick is to work smarter and more efficiently. I find a lot of my struggle is time management and focusing on what is important. Possibly figuring out how to be less distracted with less important tasks can help family entrepreneurs compete?
  • Roman Giverts
    This would be a good post sometime.. dating & family. Really different that what i've seen on the other blogs, but INCREDIBLY relevant to being an entrepreneur.

    You started dating before your first company, but let me guess, she never talked about getting married before your first company ;-)
  • Good luck! This is further proof why it's essential to hire only the best -- there will always be times when you won't be available and you'll need to trust others to handle things in your absence. Work like hell but remember you're not scalable :-)
  • saw Invictus yesterday... awesome experience... thanks for the recommendation.... I actually remember watching that game back in '95- probably on a delay, with my brother, (also a rugby player) and us saying afterwards we'd never seen a more wrenching, blood and guts, brutal game.... I never knew how much Mandela was involved behind the scenes nor of his influence on Pienaar... what I do remember vividly from the game was seeing how the Springbok went after Lomu from the opening whistle... I remember seeing Pienaar's massive forearm around Lomu's neck after one bruising tackle they put on him early on and my brother and I exchanging a knowing glance... as if to say, "this game was going to be different"... Against England, after all, Lomu had touched the ball perhaps 4 times and scored every time, basically running over grown men like they were children.... South Africa was simply not going to let that happen....
    Oh right... your blog post... almost forgot (!)... I'll just add that I now only invest in people with a serious chip on their shoulder who are totally obsessed and will do whatever work is required.... in my hard-earned experience I guess I've realized that if you don't have this, you don't have a chance.... Wanted: entrepreneurs who have the work ethic and guts and training to try and tackle the likes of a Jonah Lomu.... or at least slow him down until your team arrives...
    (thanks for another great post Mark)
  • "running over grown men like they were children"..
    easy mate.. no need to rub it in.. some of us are still trying to put those memories behind us.

    Lomu was a top notch player though. I have nothing but respect for him
  • sorry Niyi.... I'm sure it's a painful memory.... Lomu was just unstoppable that day... Carling and co. valiantly tried what they could... -dave
  • Yes, I like a chip on the shoulder. For sure. I watched a few rugby games when I lived in the UK. Funnily enough I was supposed to live in South Africa in '95 but my trip got cancelled 2 days before I was supposed to fly out there. Had my work permits and everything.
  • no short-cut to good ole fashioned hard work!

    “Don’t worry about your failure, worry about your success. " - never thought about things like that but makes a lot of sense.

    More of the same please :-)
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: