business building

Working With Our Unique Surroundings

My enjoyment regarding gardening
increased substantially
when I stopped
fighting my unique environment
and
started
working with it.

I have squirrels, for example.
Years ago, I planted
hundreds of tulips.
The squirrels LOVE tulips
and they shredded every single bulb.

I then did my research
and uncovered squirrels dislike daffodils.

I planted a few daffodil bulbs.
The squirrels left them alone.
The daffodils flourished
and multiplied.

Years later,
I have beautiful Spring beds
filled with daffodils.

Because I worked with
my unique environment.
I didn’t fight it.
I didn’t try to change it
into something it wouldn’t naturally be.

I suspect right now
you’re fighting some aspect
of your business’s environment.

It could be walk by traffic
consisting of people
who speak another language.
Or a social media platform
that suppresses posts
with certain keywords.

If you figure out a way
to work with that aspect
(you hire an employee who speaks
that other language, for example),
business building
will be MUCH easier.

Money And Power

If people perceive you have money
in the U.S.,
laws don’t apply to you.
They just…don’t.

You are unlikely to be charged
with anything.
And, in the rare instances
where you are charged,
you are unlikely to be found guilty.

Is this fair or just?
No.
But it isn’t a fair or just world.

For business builders,
this has big implications.

If our target market
is the wealthy,
we are at risk
of not being paid,
of being victims
of other crimes.

UNLESS people perceive us
as being as wealthy,
as powerful
as the people we serve.

If we can’t yet craft
that type of personae,
it is likely best
that we avoid the wealthy
until we CAN craft it.

Laws don’t apply
to the wealthy.
Remember that
when dealing with them.

Will You Regret Not Doing This?

Starting a business
is extremely risky.
Businesses fail
all the time.

Some of your loved ones
will tell you
these harsh truths.
Again and again.

And you might have doubts.
You might be tempted
to put your plans on hold.

What I do
when faced with these kinds
of decisions
is
ask myself,
“At the end of my life,
will I regret not doing this?
Will I always wonder
what could have been?”

If the answer is “Yes”,
I figure out
how to minimize the downside,
how to limit
the potential damage,
and then I do it.

If the answer is “No”,
I don’t do it.
I wait for something,
for an opportunity
I WOULD regret not seizing.

Live life
with as few regrets
as possible.

Myth Vs Reality

My very first published
Romance Novel
was based on real life.

The heroine crafted
business plans
that were targeted toward
a specific venture capitalist
(the hero).

I did the same thing
…but without the romance.
(grins)

Of all the stories
I have published,
that one drew the most criticism
from readers
for being ‘unrealistic.’

They’d read other romances
with venture capitalist heroes.
They’d watched movies
with that hero type.
They believed they knew
what venture capitalists did
and who they were as people.

They were wrong.
The venture capitalists in their minds
were Hollywood creations.
But they were certain
they were right.

I suspect you have an image
in your mind
of a role
that is false also.

It could be the bootstrapping entrepreneur
building a software company
from nothing
in her parents’ garage
(Bill Gates,
whom this story originated with,
came from an extremely wealthy family)
or
the lawyer who gets her clients
out of any mess
based on her skills alone
(pure Hollywood myth).

Before acting on these assumptions,
dig deeper
and
verify they are true.