Thanks to my parents’ encouragement, I started playing golf at a young age – maybe 12 or 13. I worked at a golf club as a teenager cleaning clubs, washing carts and picking the driving range. I have found memories of my buddies hitting 1 irons at me late in the day when I was in the caged range picker….nailing the side of it. It was hilarious. I’d practice often and play at least 18 holes a day in the summers. I got pretty good and watched some of my buddies get really good and go off to shine in college and even give it a go on tour. I was never good enough to play professionally but I loved the game so much that I started down a career path as a golf professional once in college…thinking after college I’d become a head pro at a golf club one day. I was even slacking on finishing college thinking it didn’t really matter If I finished. So unlike a professional golfer (who plays on tour for prize money), I would work at a golf course shop, give golf lessons and maybe play in golf events from time to time.

Well – I started down that path and after a year or so I realized that I hated it. I hated mainly because I played 1/10th the golf I used to play. On the beautiful sunny days I was behind the counter ringing up all the lucky people who came to play. About the only time I played was on Mondays when the course was closed…and even then I was not all that excited about playing because golf was now my job. I eventually burned out on playing the game I used to love. Fortunately, one fine day, on the drive to work I realized this was not what I wanted to do and I quit. I reset my focus, finished college and started writing software for a living. The golf became enjoyable again….

I feel the same way about Schedulefly. I love this business and I love my team and I love working on it and watching it grow – but at the end of the day – it’s not my true passion. It it were – I think I would eventually burn out and not like it and want to do something else. I guess what I am saying is I purposely sink considerable time and energy into other passions that have nothing to do with business…..so when I do come back to the laptop to write some code or answer a customer – I still love it. And it works! It’s been 5 years and I am more excited about this business today than the day we started….

Wes

p.s That pic is of me and my Dad at Pebble Beach in Carmel CA. That was one special round of golf that I’ll never forget.