Workin' For The Weekend

Starting and operating your own business can consume nearly every waking moment of your life.  There’s no typical 9-to-5 schedule.  Some days are 8 AM to 8 PM.  Some days are 5 AM to 10 PM.  There’s no 5-day work week.  I can’t remember a day in the past 3 years that didn’t involve some dose of work…even if it’s just a few phone calls.

All of you that have been down this road understand the commitment and sacrifice.  Somewhere, life fits into the equation.  On some days, ‘life’ away from work consists only of exercise on the elliptical down the hall or worse, staying in bed for an extra 30 minutes…all the while, still thinking about work. Thankfully, I can go to ‘work’ to generally escape work. 

Of course, here, all Saturday mornings involve ‘work’…and there’s those pesky 5 AM wake-up times.  95% of the time between 8 AM and 10 AM for a standard gathering is stress-free.  Yes, there’s the occasional rule breaker – that the MotorWeek staff insists are in action at every gathering across the country.  That’s when I have to wear ‘the serious guy’ cap.  If located, they’re managed immediately to limit future issues and to maximize the real enjoyable times.  [Starting around 9:40 AM, my awareness of exiting vehicles increases in line with my heart rate.]  Putting stress aside for a moment, meeting first-time visitors, re-connecting with new and old friends, taking part in conversations about life and our automobiles and generally relaxing with a morning beverage is what it’s all about. 

Let’s get back to work...but only the tech part for now.  Coincidentally, it was one conversation next to a certain Porsche that led to hours of unanticipated work.  After seeing the Martini livery on the GT3 [see my photo below], I joked with the owner that I loved the logo so much that I may create an alternate Hunt Valley Horsepower logo. 

Here's the logo's inspiration.

[Photo courtesy of Rich "Will" Williams]

Those jokes exposed an addiction.  Since my only training in the graphic arts comes from a few YouTube videos, that simple logo took hours of creation and refinement.  I simply couldn’t stop balancing dimensions, fonts and colors.  That led to more hours of deciding how it would look on a t-shirt.  These are those moments where a business owner may come to grips with the limits of time and expertise.  The business owner may eventually rationalize paying someone to create a logo and a t-shirt.  [That’s myself mocking myself.]  Then again, the learning is free and reusable.

Here's one of few nearly-finished logos.

Through the morning, my camera will capture - on average - 90-140 photos that all need some sort of editing if they’re usable.  Here’s another major time sink.  [May I apologize in advance if you see me taking a photo of your automobile and it doesn’t end up in a newsletter or on Flickr.  To keep it short, I’m still a photo rookie and I screw up regularly.]    

Speaking of cameras, you may just see one in the air at Horsepower at Elk Manor on Sunday, August 23.  Recently, a quadcopter was added to the media ranks for Hunt Valley Horsepower.  To safely generate aerial photos and video, yes, there’s more video training and hours of flight time.

Just when I thought I didn’t have enough time, it was time to find more schedule cloggers.  There was a hidden bonus of so much work.  It flowed right into becoming a newsletter topic.  If you have some time tomorrow morning…and the clouds aren’t working overtime…we hope to see you in Hunt Valley!