A large shopping mall is being built just a few minutes drive away from our vacation home here in SW Florida. We first learnt about this five years ago. That doesn’t mean that work started five years ago. I suspect that the process started much earlier. First the land would need to be approved for development and then a developer would have to buy the land. The developer would need to submit plans for approval and once approved work would commence. For a long time whenever my wife, Diana (a.k.a. She Who Must Be Obeyed), drove past nothing appeared to be happening. Then a few men appeared in yellow hard hats who for several months appeared to do nothing more than stare at the land and would occasionally be seen in a huddle. Then just a few months ago several structures seemed to magically rise from the ground. An opening date was announced and a list of stores was published. It was an extensive list with all the better upscale well-known American stores (including Apple) together with some specialist stores as well such as Gucci, Louis Vitton et al. It was at this point that She Who Must Be Obeyed expressed a level of interest!
The act of building this very large mall is a lot like building our and I suspect, your enterprise. When the ground is being prepared, the roadways are being laid, the utility infrastructure is being installed nothing much seems to be happening to the casual observer that drives by.
In our business we made not a lot of money in our first year. This was our foundation process and like the developer we didn’t quit and move onto another piece of land. Like the developer we stuck to our plans.
The foundation period of your business can be a dangerous time for you. It’s when distractions can set in. Your peer group may not fully understand why you have elected to be “different” and try to persuade you to take alternative forms of activity rather than focussing on your new business. Please understand, I’m not suggesting that you should become Jack as in “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Far from it. Life needs to be lived but you also need to be aware where your activities are taking you and the power of the influence of association. This period can be tricky. You might experience unwelcome comments from a loved one such as, “You’re not going to another meeting tonight are you?” or “Why are you going to another seminar? You’ve already been to one!”. These are the arrows of discontent and unless dealt with can cause fatal wounds. Here’s how to deal with the arrows of discontent. Share your dreams and vision of your future with your loved ones and make sure that your future vision includes your loved ones as a high priority. I’ve already said in an earlier post that to commence an enterprise with the intention of “just paying the lousy bills” isn’t a good plan. One must look through those early obstacles and major on the plans for your enormous building.
Until my next post……….Toodloo!
Clive Leach's Blog 