Truth to be told, there are weeks when selling net pallets for packaging garlic or a net pallets for packaging mussels from our SMART NETS range costs more than going on a pilgrimage to Santiago on your knees. There are days that are not uphill but rather are authentic vertical kilometers that not even the goats climb… Well, imagine when several days in a row or several special category ports are chained, well, either you are very strong or literally loose conscious.
I was never a bad student, but neither did I manage to get two degrees, as our General Director did, who got “Philosophy and Letters”, when even double degrees were not foreseen in any study plan… and Bologna was a a city in Italy that no one knew how to place on the map. But even if you are not a bad student, there comes a time when you need to take a break and try the flavors of the working world, and there is no way to do it through the front door: by becoming an entrepreneur.
It was clear to me that I was not prepared to face some Spanish “Oposiciones” (the exam you prepare where you get a government position job paid from the government for the rest of you life), the radiator was already losing water, and I was about to catch a cold just thinking about taking 1, 2, 3, 4… years to risk everything on a test, so I resigned and I embarked on the fast-paced world of SMEs.
No one had previously warned me that they were changing a test on a certain date for which they gave you a certain syllabus, for a daily concatenation of pop quizzes where the questions (problems) are never repeated and there is no type of manual that you can consult to resolve doubts. When you think it’s going to be a quiet day because you have everything under control, the least expected problem always appears that needs significant dedication and attention.
Entrepreneurs pass exams every day, both with customers to serve them nets baskets on time, now that the stone fruit campaign is approaching, and with our suppliers who day after day have problems supplying you, while the prices of raw materials premiums do not stop rising, or even with your team that, from time to time, requires your attention.
In addition we have to reconcile with our private life, without going any further, today I had to go on a trip while my daughter was in the emergency room in the hospital, with that restlessness that causes you the uncertainty of what can happen. Other times you have to make bobbin lace, and a great effort, to be close to that loved one who is also in a difficult moment… but as I always tell him: “I want to be there when you are bad, for when you are well you have plenty of people”.
The good thing about all this is that I recognize that I am a bit of a “workalcoholic“, but to the right extent, and I really enjoy the challenges that life presents me with every day and also those that I formulate myself. In fact right now, I have several that you can’t imagine to what extent they motivate me…