Every week I get at least one call from a business owner who tells me that nothing is working in their business and they are very frustrated. They are very free to put the blame on factors they say are outside of their control. They blame their employees and their customers for lack of cash flow. They say they are trapped by their business and can never take any time off. As I work with small business owners, I have learned that in most cases those are self-inflicted wounds.
Today, I’m aware of the fact that life is better than I deserve, which is saying something these days.
The world is full of pain and suffering, hardship and turmoil, disappointment and regret. I am not lucky, fortunate or merely disciplined; I am expected to do something with the grace I’ve been given.
And so are you. Being grateful is a choice.
So I made a list…
Are you a Business Card collector?I still remember the very first business networking lunch I attended. It was the Tuesday on the week before Thanksgiving in 2008 at a local Italian restaurant just down the street from my home. It turned out the lunch was free that day if you joined the group for a year. So I did. I did not know a soul in the room, and very little about how to network but I decided to make the commitment. After all, the price to join for a year was the cost the lunch would have been anyway. For the prior 6 years I had been locked away in a cubical where you needed to have clearance to even get on the floor of the building where I spent way too many hours. Now suddenly I was in a world where I had to interact with people and my very survival as a business owner depended on it. To say the least is was scared to death and I am sure it showed. However, I was determined to make it work and over time I developed a system that helped me not only survive but thrive.
“The greatest act of courage is to be and own all that you are. Without apology. Without excuses and without any masks to cover the truth of who you really are.”- UnknownIn a time of business, chaos and for some, troubled waters at home and at work, authentic living is, I think, all we have to fall back on. Living according to your Core Self is the best reminder of authentically.