Let’s imagine for a moment that we are going to be facing the storm of the century. There’s no way around it, we are going to be smacked dead in the center of this chaos that Mother Nature decided to lay in our paths. But let’s make it worse, we will be at sea with no land in site. So here we are, going into the storm of the century, in the middle of the ocean, let me ask you a question. Would you rather be on the S.S. Minnow or on a gigantic ship like a cruise line?
Of course you would choose the cruise line ship. But why? Let’s list some obvious reasons:
- The cruise line ship is bigger
- The cruise line ship is harder to knock down
- The cruise line ship can handle the rough sea
- The cruise line ship is built to handle storms
- The cruise line ship has available resources that can help mitigate any damage (i.e. medical and trained staff)
Overall, you would agree that the cruise line ship is better prepared to handle extreme weather than the S.S. Minnow could ever handle, let alone a three-hour tour…a three-hour tour. So why the discussion on ships and weather at sea? It’s because when we are starting a business or really tackling anything major in life, we need to relate ourselves as the cruise line. We must be bigger, harder to knock down, handle all the rough times, and have resources available at our beckon call. So how do we do that?
For start, you’re doing it. By reading and educating yourself all the time, you are little by little mitigating any damage you may make for yourself by learning and seeing what works and what did not work for someone else. We must take on smaller storms in life to prepare us for the bigger storms. We do that by pushing fear aside and taking a leap of faith with our ideas trusting that everything will work out in the end. It always does, doesn’t it? When we lost our girlfriend in high school, wasn’t there someone else? Or when we found ourselves in a hard place, wasn’t it great to have someone pick us back up whether it be a spouse, friend, co-worker, or neighbor?
A great way to take on the bigger storms in life is to break them up into manageable weather. So we want to start a business. Great! How do we do that? Well, we take a look at what is needed to be accomplished and start to break it up into easy-to-manage tasks. Pick a name, check! Search online for ways to start your business, check! Go to the library (yes even I still go), and check out books on the subject, check! Call someone who is doing what you want to be doing to learn more on the process, check! Before you know it, you will be on your way and the momentum will carry you along your journey.
One thing I want to note; make someone an accountability partner. Someone that you trust will push you if/when you do not perform (this more than likely will happen even to the best of us). And it does not have to be a one-way street. Perhaps they have something they want to finish. Say, they want to stop smoking and you want to start a business. Okay. You two chit-chat on what you want to accomplish and set deadlines—very important—then hold one another accountable for meeting those deadlines. And neither should be forgiving! If on your things-to-do you are supposed to have found three vendors to supply your product for you to sell on your upcoming website, and when the deadline is met with you having only two vendors, then make it so you not only have to find that last vendor in a day or two, but you also must find another three.
To recap, in order to face the harder storms in life, especially those we will come across when we start a business, we must educate and prepare ourselves. We must be that cruise ship at sea that has no problem facing the storm it was built for. Visit your local library, network with those who have already walked-the-walk with what you want to do (online forums are great for this), and by all means, do not be afraid of some rough seas that may lie ahead because if you build and prepare yourself right, you can take on what mother nature throws your way.
Till next time Biz Army…