90% Messy.

A week or so ago, Jeanne and I learned that we placed third in the "Best Entrepreneur" category in Inside Columbia's Best of Columbia 2016 contest.  And if you aren't familiar with how this works, Inside Columbia magazine creates a number of "Best Of..." categories and then for most of November and December, anyone can log on and nominate and/or vote (or both) for their favorite in a vast number of categories.  In January, the field narrows down to the top 10 vote getters in each category.  And then, after a few weeks of open voting by the public, the winners are announced (finally).  Whew. And look, between just you and me, I am JUST AS SURPRISED AS YOU ARE.  I mean, who knew?  The short list of 10 in the "Best Entrepreneur" category was a powerhouse of legit business knowledge and I bet not a single one of them hid in their bathroom (on more than one occasion) to cry during regular business hours.

But I would wager that everyone on that list, from the original 35 or so, to the gold medal winner did wonder a time or two just what exactly they were doing with their lives.  (I do, at least once a week.  True story.)  Here is my simple observation, to be an entrepreneur, you probably have to be ok with everything being fairly messy for most of the time.  And by "everything", I mean 90% of your life.  I keep waiting for the moment that I'm perfect at this, but it never seems to show up.  And yet, somehow, that seems just as it should be.

(Perhaps though, the joke is on me.  What if everything were THAT MUCH EASIER if I weren't 90% messy?  What if you are reading this and clucking your tongue and thinking "oh honey, you don't even know how in the weeds you are"?  The fact that this is completely plausible is even more frightening that the realization that you might be thinking it.)

Winning third place in a contest certainly doesn't change that we are on a constant two steps forward, one step back struggle bus.  But the world knows our struggles (mainly because I never hesitate to tell you about them in vivid detail, right here, four nights out of seven)...and yet each of you continue to believe in us and our quest for World Pie Domination.  No matter how little we sometimes believe in ourselves.  THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Thank you for voting for us.  Inside Columbia didn't actually deliver us a bronze medal, but if they had, we would cut it up into 1,000 tiny slices and share it with each of you...