Way back in the “old days” of this young business, I did a daily telephone check-in with a friend of mine who was also starting his own business. The sense of comeraderie and effort toward a common goal was helpful to both of us. We took a lot of notes about our conversations and the concepts we developed, with the intention of sharing the story with the world at some point.
Well, who knows if we’ll ever share it with the world, but we did come across some encouraging concepts for budding business owners. Some of them were quotes from other people- some famous, some not- that just provided incentive to push forward through the adverse times that face a budding entrepreneur.
I guess one of the things it’s important to realize is that an entrepreneur is ALWAYS budding. Just because a person has been in business “x” number of years doesn’t mean they’re not facing new challenges every day. The act of business is a dynamic process. Things are changing, and hopefully growing all of the time, and an entrepreneur is always looking for new ideas to keep things moving along.
One of the biggest things we’d decided is good to keep in mind is “There’s no profit in calling fate a whore.” These words are very powerful in dire situations. To me they mean that while you’re taking a moment to cuss about a different challenging moment, you’re killing time that could be spent moving forward. In business, TIME is the most expensive asset, and it consumes itself at a semi-steady rate. It doesn’t wait for you to be in a better mood, or more healthy, or even awake. It moves forward and leaves you standing by the road eating its dust.
The reason I’m bringing this up is a few days ago a person asked me how I’d dealt with some of the challenges we’ve faced this year, from the weather to failing equipment. Essentially my answer was that if you stand around cussing and worrying about it, it will consume you until it beats you.
That’s not to say I haven’t cussed a bit, nor is it to say I haven’t allowed myself to be consumed occasionally. I’m human and nowhere close to perfect. However the fact that I’ve committed this simple statement about fate to my mental policy has made the difference between success and failure many times. I’ve always tried to convert my “consuming” thoughts into “learning the lesson” thoughts so I can pick my head up and keep moving.
While a lot of business is involves accounting, which is essentially keeping score, there are some things that are better left scoreless. When even one thing goes right the score is suddenly even…and thousands of things have gone right over the years. It’s more important to celebrate successes than to keep track of failures.
I will continue to search for ways to keep Amerivet Services in such a state that it can not only sustain itself, but grow a little with each success. We’ve come a long way on this journey, and it’s nowhere close to over yet.
For those of you wanting to be entrepreneurs, I say you should take a well-informed and well-educated plunge. Put the pieces together in a smart way, and go make some people happy. Don’t waste your time calling fate a whore. That would be time spent pointing out the obvious. The entrepreneur’s quest is to make things go right without fate’s help.
In the Air Force we called it “improvise and overcome.” Whatever it takes to turn a mess into a success.