building businesses

Recognize The Sacrifice

Today is Remembrance Day
in my part of the world,
a day in which
we commemorate
the warriors who fought
for our country.

I didn’t agree
with all the battles
fought
but I recognize
and honor
the sacrifices made.

I also don’t agree
with all the businesses
being built
but I recognize
the hard work
and the ingenuity
people are putting
into those businesses.

(I’m NOT equating
building a business
and fighting in a war.

We, business builders,
aren’t AT ALL
making that level
of sacrifice.
Thankfully.)

You don’t have to
agree with an action
to respect
the spirit
behind that action.

Value Your Soil

We’ll all super busy
building our businesses.

I completely understand that
as I am in the same hectic state.

But while we’re focusing
on our businesses,
we should ensure
we’re not f*cking up
other assets.

Like the soil
around our businesses
and homes.

Top soil depletion
is a serious issue
now and in the future.
It is as serious
as lack of water.

Which means
it is an asset
that is appreciating in value.

Consider building your top soil.

Add a layer of leaves
to it
in the autumn.
Keep it covered
with grass and other plants
year round.
Stop using pesticides.

It is as simple as that.

And, for f*cks sake,
don’t pave over it
(or install plastic grass
or other harmful coverings)
if that is at all possible.

Your top soil
is an asset.
Value it.

Deciding On Your Legacy

We decide our legacies.

We influence
how people remember us
when we’re here
on this Earth
and after we’re gone.

If you want to be
remembered fondly,
with joy,
with caring,
do the things
that leave that legacy.

Build more
than you destroy.
(And yes,
this includes building businesses.)

Love more
than you hate.

Give more
than you take.

Support more
than you punish.

Help more
than you hinder.

It is basic math.
Positive contributions > Negative contributions
= Being Missed After We’re Gone.

It is truly
THAT easy to leave
a wonderful legacy.

Awareness Of The Rest Of The World

We’re busy.
We have businesses to build
and that takes
a lot of time.

But it is important
to carve out
a couple minutes
in our days
and scan over
what is happening
in the rest of the world.

Because those happenings
will likely impact our businesses.
Maybe not today or tomorrow
but eventually.

The things that happen
in the UK,
for example,
eventually happen
in my corner of the world.

I track those UK happenings
and prepare for them
to arrive in my area
and that has been
a HUGE key to my successes.

Be aware of
what is happening
in the rest of the world.

Leaders Are Stress Absorbers

A loved one has a new boss.
This loved one’s job
is already super stressful.
The new boss
is unnecessarily
adding to that stress.

Which means
the new boss isn’t doing
THEIR job.

One of our tasks
as leaders
(and business builders
ARE leaders)
is to absorb stress.

We clear that sh*t
out of the way
so our people don’t have
to worry about it.
They can concentrate
on doing their jobs
to the best
of their abilities.

Absorb the stress.
Relay only the emotions
your people need
to do their jobs.

Our Own Rate Of Growth

I planted tomato seeds
harvested from the same plant,
stored and sown in the same way.

Some plants sprouted
weeks apart.

The late sprouters
look as healthy
and viable
as the early sprouters.
I suspect they will bear
as many tomatoes.

They merely were
on a different schedule.

I’m on a different schedule
from other business builders.
I suspect you are too.

That schedule isn’t bad
or good.
It is merely different.

It is OUR schedule.

Don’t compare
your rate of growth
to those of other businesses.

You and your business
are unique.
Your rate of growth
will be unique also.

If You Have Employees…

If we have employees,
our highest priority task
is to keep them safe.

If that means
literally
standing between them
and danger,
that is where
we should be positioned.

Of course,
we should try to do
all we can
to keep our employees
AND
ourselves
out of danger.
We should put
safeguards in place.

But if those safeguards fail,
as business builders,
we are the people
who should be placed
in most danger.

If we are unwilling
to accept that reality,
the solution is simple
– we build businesses
that don’t require onsite employees.

That is what I’ve done
with the Romance Novel Writing Business.
I don’t have any employees
and the people I partner with
work from their own homes.

If we have employees,
their safety comes first.

Celebrate The Small Wins

I interacted with a new-to-me reader
yesterday.

I put that encounter
squarely in the win category,
told the people
who would be happy for me,
who would understand,
treated myself to a mini celebration.

It was a small win
but that is usually
what drives larger successes
– small wins.

They are important,
are building blocks,
and they should be recognized.

Celebrate your small wins.

To Get To The Next Level

I grew up dirt poor.
I knew how to be dirt poor
and survive.
I had that skill set.

But I wanted to be rich.
My Wonderful Mom matched me
with a couple
who had amassed enough wealth
to retire in their 40s.
They taught me
how to be middle class
and also how to be
their level of rich.

These were two different
sets of skills,
two different knowledge bases.

There is a knowledge base
needed
to ‘succeed’ at each level.

A ‘successful’ poor person,
for example,
has mastered
how to rent an apartment well.

A ‘successful’ middle class person
has mastered
how to buy a primary home well.

A ‘successful’ rich person
has mastered
how to buy investment properties well.

There are also
different skills needed
at every level of business building.

Building a Mom and Pop business
requires a different knowledge base
than building an international corporation.

To get to the next level,
you have to learn
new skills.
Expect to do this.
Allocate the necessary time.

Your Life Matters

Building a business
matters.
Starting a business
matters.
If the business succeeds,
that matters.
If the business fails,
that matters also.

Giving back matters.
Influencing the next generation
matters.
Heck, picking up a piece of garbage
and putting it in the trash can
matters.

What we are doing matters.
And WE matter.

Mona Eltahawy
shares

“The most subversive thing
a woman can do
is to talk about her life
as if it matters.
Because it does.”

Our lives matter.
We’re making a difference
in the world.

Talk about yourself,
your business,
your actions.
Be proud of what
you’re doing