Jack Jacob is CEO and founder of PNE (Partnership Network Events), based in Crawley. In 2018, at the age of 24, he founded PNE from his kitchen table, since when it has grown to become a successful business employing 29 staff and with a turnover of £4 million. Here he asks if there is a backlash in the sector against entrepreneurs...
The events industry is full of entrepreneurs; the creativity, passion and can-do attitude a person needs to run events also lends itself very well to creating and leading a company.
But I have recently seen a worrying trend of people on social media speaking negatively about entrepreneurship… well hard work in general.
We’ve all seen the ‘hustle porn’ posts across social media; the posts that come from those keen to boast about their 5am starts, 10k daily runs, the long relentless hours and the constant grind, all promoting the fact that if you aren’t committed 200 per cent then you won’t succeed.
At first, everyone was addicted to these posts and achieving this way of life; people aspired to fulfil the ‘Miracle Morning’ (as described by Hal Elrod in his book of the same name) and there’s a myriad of self-help books, articles and YouTube channels dedicated to helping you to be more productive and cram more into your days.
While I think that many of these posts were over the top, the underlying message is actually true: building a business isn’t easy. It takes hard work, dedication and time, and there simply isn’t a quick fix to achieve business success long term.
Backlash
What I am seeing now though, is a backlash against working hard, and people actively criticising this work ethic. It’s now become sexy and attractive for people to criticise entrepreneurs for building businesses and for (dare I say it) putting in the hard graft and the long hours to achieve business growth.
The trouble is that you can’t have one without the other. Building a world class business takes focus, dedication and it takes time – time that an employee would be spending with their families, or at the gym or in achieving a work life balance. It is virtually impossible to build a world class business without sacrifices. I’ve been away from home for a total of two months this year – that’s 60 days of not seeing my wife and family, and I’ve missed my daughters’ sports days, in my youngest's case, her first, as well as birthdays because of the timing of our events.
When Eddie Hearn was interviewed on Steven Bartlett’s ‘Diary of a CEO’ podcast he openly admitted that his work was more important to him than his family but that they knew and accepted that, I appreciate that’s an extreme example, but it just shows what it takes to build a global enterprise.
Fulfilment
I appreciate that work/life balance is important but being a business owner is an amazing achievement and one that shouldn’t be looked down on. It really is hard work but the rewards are fantastic – and I honestly believe that some of us just wouldn’t have it any other way, it’s where our passion lies, it’s where our purpose is, and it’s ultimately what gives us that deep sense of fulfilment.
Building a world class business does mean sacrificing the work/ life balance. It does take time and it does require certain sacrifices, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing. It’s definitely not right for everybody, and to be fair, it couldn’t be, the world needs different people, motivated by different things, but that also means that it is right for some, so we need to be open minded enough to acknowledge that and respect people’s choices.
If you want to build your own business, and I mean a proper business, then understand and accept that you’ll have to make sacrifices to make it work. The most important thing is that you love it - so it then doesn’t actually feel like you are making any sacrifices at all.
