Running on empty | 102

Sometimes it’s not bad luck. It’s just you running on empty. Here’s why blaming the world gets you nowhere in business or life.

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Transcript

“Alan, you’re P4 — you’re gonna have to retire the car.”
 Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing.

On Wednesday this week, I had a very important month’s-mind Mass to go to for the funeral I’d been back for — which was the main reason we’ve been sticking around so long and not heading back to Australia.

It was to attend that and pay our respects.

On Wednesday, while driving from Cork to Waterford on the motorway, the car decided to chug, chug, chug… and then just coast.

Luckily, it wasn’t too busy at the time — around 4:00 PM — so I was able to cross a few lanes, get into the hard shoulder, and stop the car.

Panic kicked in for a second while I tried to figure out what was going on.

The dash was lit up like a Christmas tree. I turned the car off, then straight away — as you do — tried to start it again.
 It chugged… chugged… and didn’t start.

I thought, what the hell is going on here?

In my head, I was convinced it wasn’t fuel, because I’d filled the car two days earlier. I’d only done about 300 kilometres since then. The range was meant to be about 700, so there was no way it was out of fuel.

So I tried again — and the dash flashed low fuel.

I thought, no way can it be fuel.

Something must be electronically wrong with it — it’s not reading the gauge right.

So I’m sitting there on the side of the motorway thinking, right, I’ve got two options.

I pulled out the little rental car booklet to see what the breakdown protocol was. Apparently, I was supposed to call their roadside assistance partner — but I thought, nah, I’m taking this into my own hands.

I opened Google Maps and checked where the nearest petrol station was. Ironically, as the crow flies, it was directly to my left — across a paddock, or as we’d say in Ireland, a field.

But obviously, I couldn’t go cross-country with a jerry can.

So I had to organise a taxi.

Luckily enough, Uber actually worked in that area — which is rare if you’re out in rural Ireland. Total nightmare otherwise.

The driver came along — poor bloke came down the wrong side of the motorway — had to go a couple of kilometres past, swing around, and come back to get me.

Anyway, I came up with a cunning plan: once he picked me up, I’d ask him to take cash instead of paying through the app, and see if he’d wait while I got the fuel and came back to the car.

He agreed — absolute legend.

So I filled up the canister, went back to the car, and thought, please fucking work.

I had about two hours to spare and roughly an hour to go to my destination.

I filled the tank with the canister and — sure as shit — it fired up after a few swings.

Great feeling. Problem solved.

I drove to the petrol station, filled it up properly, and was back on my way.

Now, what actually happened was this:

Every car I’ve ever driven flashes up a red warning light when you’re low on fuel. “Get fuel NOW or you’re walking.”

But this rental car — a Renault Captur (shout out, and never get one) — didn’t do that.

It just silently switched to “0 kilometres remaining.”

No ping. No light. Nothing.

And because I knew I’d filled it recently and the warning light never popped up, I convinced myself it couldn’t be fuel.

That combo of overconfidence and missing warning signs is exactly what caused me to run dry.

To this day, I’m still convinced someone siphoned the tank or there’s a leak — because there’s no way I burned through 700 kilometres’ worth of fuel that quick.

Anyway, when I filled it at the servo, it was bone dry.
Took another €70 on top of the €10 I’d put in from the canister.

So yeah — it was fuel.

Weirdest thing though — in 20 years of driving, I’ve never run out of fuel.

And that’s where the business lesson comes in.

People love to blame things. They get angry when something goes wrong.

But sometimes, you’ve got to look at the good side.

I look back at that now and laugh. It cost me a few euro and a bit of time — but I’m damn glad it happened then.

Because if that had happened Monday morning — driving to Dublin Airport at 3:00 AM — I’d have been absolutely screwed.

That’s usually when I top up a rental before returning it, so they don’t sting you $15 a litre.

If it had died then, in the dark, middle of nowhere, I might’ve missed the flight, abandoned the car, lost my deposit — total nightmare.

So yeah — I’m thankful it happened when it did. I got to fix it, learn from it, and now I know that car’s gauge is dodgy.

And that’s what I want to talk about today — mentality.

Because the type of people I hate working with most are the ones who think the world’s out to get them.

It’s not.

The world isn’t against you.

It’s simple: what you put in is what you get out.

And I’m seeing that more and more as this business grows.

The harder I work, the more effort I put into Simplified Sparky, the more I get back.

You see it everywhere — especially in contractor Facebook groups.

They’re full of negativity.

Blokes cutting each other down.
 Someone asks a genuine question — they get roasted.
 Someone loses a job and goes online to rant about being undercut.

It’s always, “Look at this dickhead, he took my job.”

But they don’t stop to think — maybe the client just didn’t like you.

Maybe it wasn’t about price.
 Maybe your website’s crap, or you didn’t build enough trust.

And the funniest part? The time and effort they spend venting online — they could’ve spent that energy marketing their business.

Instead of posting on Facebook for sympathy, go post something on your business page that actually attracts work.

Put that energy into you.

When the world got me this week — when the car ran dry — I could’ve blamed Renault, the petrol station, the universe.

But I didn’t.

I got back in the saddle, problem-solved, and got moving again.

That’s the difference between people who grow and people who stay stuck.

So that’s my quick one for today — a mindset shift.

Stop blaming the world.

Get up off your ass.
 Do the work.
 And keep fuelling the engine that drives your business.