Push Yourself
Mostly we do difficult things not from the desire for pleasure, but from the fear of pain, so I try to create leverage on myself so that failing will be painful.
When we opened the first YO! Sushi in London’s Soho, I signed the contract with the builders before I had the finance in place.
That way there was no way back and I knew I just had to get the money. By this time I was two years in and had every penny I owned, and more, invested.
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I’ve always found it easy to sleep, even when under pressure, but there were quite a few mornings I was up at 4 a.m.
As it turned out I didn’t need angel investment – the builders didn’t send their final bills in straight away and our suppliers gave us extended credit, by which time YO! had taken enough cash to pay them. But until then, the drive it gave me was unparalleled.
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
American proverb
I’ve noticed that entrepreneurs are always talking about their ideas. Their enthusiasm and openness make things happen.
Others get caught up in the project – and the entrepreneur then feels big pressure to produce results.
Investing also focusses the mind: whether it is in time, a lump of savings or even in my case just some rather expensive pre-internet phone calls to Japan!