By Paul Tsouflidis
Taking the lead of a fellow entrepreneur today, I am going to address my haters. I think its important and I think you should do the same someday. So here it goes..
Hello haters. I know you are out there and I know that you hate everything about me. But I want you to know that I don’t hate you. Quite the contrary actually. You, unlike most people, make me better. Better at life, better at being human, and better at business. You see, I owe a lot to you. My failures and my successes alike. I am more focused because of you, and I watch my words now because of you. So thank you for that.
But tonight I want to address a few things that you will not like about me. You may even despise me more. If you do though, know that I won’t hate on you. But I will listen. In the next days, weeks, months and years, I am going to turn your world upside down. I am going to create things unimaginable, I am going to challenge myself and my peers to make my neighborhood and my city even better than it already is. I am going to turn to people who know how to create things and make things happen in the city I love. My plan is to turn your world upside down and create amazing things and bring this city to life.
You see, me and you aren’t so different. We are human. But what separates you and I is my unwillingness to settle, my denial to stop changing, and my unselfish compassion for a new Buffalo. And this is why you hate me. And I get it. I do. But rather than hate, I suggest you compromise. With me, with people like me, and with a changing Buffalo. I say this because I know the DNA of people like me. And I don’t want you to waste your time on petty things like hating me or people like me. Rather, I suggest you come to a compromise in your head by yourself. Compromise because it will make you happier.
Why compromise you ask? Because it’s simple. My DNA and the DNA of people like me will never stop doing what we love to do…and that is to create. We create by changing the game, changing perception and changing attitudes. We create by creating war in the minds of the complacent. We do this not for you to hate us, but because of the very DNA that we inherited. We are leaders, innovators, creators, mentors, and most of all, the brainchildren of tomorrow’s Buffalo.
So I ask you to please…. come to a compromise in your head. Make peace with me and people like me. The way I see it, this city, this sweet city I love, is going to be transformed. Transformed by people who will create a “new” Buffalo that will be revered nationally and respected globally. I wish you can see what I can see in Buffalo’s future, I really do, because if you did, you would see great things about to happen to a city that has earned its right to the big dance. We are going to the top, and I urge you to compromise, be happy, and revel at what is about to unfold before your very own eyes.
Tsouflidis is the proprietor of Acropolis, the popular Elmwood Village mainstay.
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