I recently picked up a limited-edition print titled “Go Into Space” by British illustrator and cartoonist Tom Gauld. I’m crazy about it.
The print features a humble little figure heading into an enormous rocket ship built for one. It pretty much perfectly captures the way that I feel when I climb into the Big Medium machinery every morning. I suspect other entrepreneurs and small businessfolk feel the same.
For me, life running my own business is composed of roughly equal parts exhiliration, obsession, isolation, triumph, anticipation, danger, inspiration, anxiety and discovery. But through it all there’s always, always, always one constant: Adventure.
Every day I climb into a rocket ship of my own invention. Some days I think she’s about to blow. Other days the rocket takes me to delightful places where I never expected to go. In both cases, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Tom created the illustration in response to the question “If you could do anything tomorrow, what would it be?” And that makes it all the more perfect. Tomorrow, when I climb back into my rocket, I’ll be doing exactly what I want to do.
So thanks, Tom. I love the print.
(If You Could is a clever little site that features a different pair of prints every month on exactly this theme. I have to confess that I’m also charmed by Luke Best’s “Try Again,” one of the prints for October 2008.)
