by Brice Hogan
This morning I was listening to the Disrupt Yourself Podcast by Whitney Johnson and her guest was Gus Wheeler the CEO of BBQ guys. There were two things that really stood out to me as he was telling his story the patience it took to grow his career, but also the persistence. It takes both for growth to occur in anything we do in life. So before I dive into why we need patience and persistence to grow. I want to highlight some things that happened to Gus.
Here is the link to the podcast: Disrupt Yourself Episode 270 Russ Wheeler
Patience while on the path
Russ started out his career working in his mid 20's in the retail home improvement field and his desire was he wanted to work for Home Depot. But another opportunity came up with a supplier named Your Other Warehouse. So he takes the job and they are supplier for Lowes and other similar companies.
It starts to take off and Gus is a part of the team that helps to grow it. A funny thing happens a few years later Home Depot buys Your Other Warehouse, so now he takes a position with Home Depot and starts to build a massive division there that was making close to $1 Billion dollars in revenue.
Things are going well but he feels the tug of needing to move on and he ends up with a German company that manufactures and sells high-end shower and bathroom fixtures. The role was a step-down and the company was smaller but he wanted the international experience.
He stays with them for about 8 years and a friend of his he knows in California is starting a company selling a lot of these home improvement products online. It was called Build.com this was around when e-commerce was really ramping up. He again took a smaller role at Build and the company did extremely well and was eventually acquired.
So Gus keeps doing this where he builds something and then jumps to a smaller role and repeats the process. Now, this took over 20 years and he is now the CEO of BBQ Guys. Patience and Persistence.
Persistence in Action
What stuck out to me about his story is we cannot expect results to be instantaneous. It takes time. Gus had to jump several times to roles that were lesser than the ones he had before. Had he rushed things and gone for the big money early he may not be where he is today.
So here is why patience and persistence are needed to grow. Persistence is patience in action. What we want to accomplish in life requires a steady pace and trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves. We don't want to get too discouraged or disappointed if there is a setback. We don't want to get too delusional in the face of success.
If we rush things or try to do too much, that thing that we want can get ruined. It could be building a business, it could be a relationship we are trying to improve, and it could be getting ourselves in better shape. It takes patience to build something good, and you have to be good at doing the mundane things because it can get really slow and boring during your growth. That is where persistence needs to take over to help push forward to your intended destination.
Don't Rush
The point is to take your time. Don't rush. If you are patient and persistent the results will come. The only thing can control is our actions and our behavior if we do that consistently we will grow.
"Most big, deeply satisfying accomplishments in life take at least five years to achieve. This can include building a business, cultivating a loving relationship, writing a book, getting in the best shape of your life, raising a family, and more.
Five years is a long time. It is much slower than most of us would like. If you accept the reality of slow progress, you have every reason to take action today. If you resist the reality of slow progress, five years from now you'll simply be five years older and still looking for a shortcut."
James Clear
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