“How’s the empire?”
I get asked this about once every two weeks. It’s been a couple of weeks, so I was due. The people who ask, I am sure, mean only the best; they can’t know how much that question annoys me. And it does; oh it does.
I don’t have an empire. If I wanted an empire, at 46, I’d have one. It’s not hard to do. All things considered, bad empires are rather easy to create.
Building an empire is one of those things all businesspeople are supposed to want to do. If you do a thing well, homogenize it, and replicate it. The problem is that as you continue to clone things, they lose the stuff that makes them special, the stuff that made them successful in the first place. Many businesspeople do just that, spend lots of OPM (other people’s money) opening new locations, and it all turns to ashes. Or equally as bad, it all becomes mediocre.
Sure, after 17 semi-successful years, we do now have a second location (yeah big whoop). We were considering setting up a second spot eventually, but we were content to keep improving the first and then only location for a little longer. An opportunity came along and it felt right... and then there were two... two quite different places.
History shows empires never last. So why want one? I live in a city where I can see the ruins of once great empires. I can ride the rails of the once mighty Pennsylvania Railroad, once vibrant, now abandoned, factories that sprung up upon along its main line. Seeing those things reminds me that I’d rather be involved with one or two (hopefully) great places, than many places that would likely be merely good at best.
Yes, building an empire is what businesspeople are supposed to do it seems. I guess I’m not most people. Or at least not most businesspeople. I can live with that. And do.
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About the author: Mike “Scoats” Scotese is a middle-aged entrepreneur, writer, artist, gardener and husband living in NE Philadelphia. His stuff can be found at scoats.com.
