As a Ladder of Fact

This corporate ladder everyone talks about? Isn't it getting old and splintery now? who says i have to climb up it? why? what's at the top thats not at the bottom? an office with a view of the park? maybe i'd rather just stay down here and sit on the grass in that park.

don't get me wrong, i am driven. i am too driven, it deters other life progress i think. but to be honest, what i am driven to do it create, not compete.

i am not trying to be bossy, or a boss, though i have about 20 people at any given time that work under me. i am not trying to get the penthouse, though dreams of hardwood floors and a backyard for my dog have kicked in recently. i am not looking to brag about my position at my high school reunion, though i do enjoy having interesting accomplishments to tell my old friends about.

so this ladder. . . .ah the dreadful ladder. its funny, i have this job, this more than full time job of punkster, creating something from my brain that has turned into bigger than life and a bigger than life stress and a taa daaaa, real company, but that thing is, still still still people ask me when i am going to get a job, or if i move, what am i going to do for money. THE SAME THING I HAVE BEEN DOING!

i think, instead of climbing some ladder everyone else is climbing, why not just build you own. tall or short as you want it, build you own ladder, prop it against whatever you want, a tree, a small business, a family, a life in a hut in brazil, and climb that ladder. climb your own, and dont worry about everyone around you getting up theirs.

i just think the higher you go, the more you're afraid of heights, the more nervous you get, the more frantic and stressed you get, unless of course the top of your ladder it a rooftop somewhere out in brooklyn with a glass of wine and maybe a couple friends nearby. that's more like the ladder i am interested in.

but then again, i feel hypocritical sometimes, because I am so driven to create and push and push and push forward. but thats because i feel like if i dont create i'll explode, you know what i mean. i have this wild idea in my head and i don't get it out into the universe soon. . ..ahhh!

i had an old boyfriend who said the only thing i cared about was my career, punkster. but i think what he never understood was to me, punkster was freedom. i wasnt working towards bragging rights for a celebrity sighting, i was working towards 4 weeks vacation and sleep ins on tuesday, no more bad bosses, and artistic freedom.

but through it all, if you have the bug you have to make things, create things, do things, accomplish things, trademark things, incorporate things, you will do it, ladder or no ladder.

i just am not convinced it has to be tetter tottering to be a success.

Comments

[Cool Sofa]

A couple years afters selling my first company and dissolving another one that made me big bucks fast and fizzled out faster, I realized I was almost broke.

They say money talks and all mine had been saying to me for a long time was "goodbye".

This also happened to be the time when I was looking for furnish my new place. On my mind was Roche Bobois. In my wallet, barely Ikea.

Not wanting to compromise my idea for the perfect couch I set out to find a way to make my own.

Finding that little custom sofa factory lit a blub in my head and set in motion something that would change my life and the lives of family that owned it forever.

This month is our 3 Year Anniversary and if you search google for "sofa" we're #4 worldwide. Coincidentally Google called us when they needed some crazy new sofas for their headquarters. So did Hef when The Playboy Mansion needed some sprucing up.

Bragging rights are fun but definitely not the motivation. A business is very much a relationship but I find it less like a romantic one. For me, it's more paternal.

It's a devotion to something outside yourself. Something you love everything about even if it's marred with flaws and keeps you up all night crying for your attention.

You raise it and instill it with your values and hopefully help it avoid some of the mistakes you made growing up.

That's what being an entrepreneur is to me.

And on that note, it also makes me a single father of two just trying to feed his family.