I was talking to someone on the phone about business a few years back and they asked me, “It just sounds too good to be true – what’s the catch?” Ya know… I feel sorry for people that are so beaten down by life and business and whatever else in their lives – that they can only look for the negative and the gotchas.
You haven’t lived life or been in business very long if you have been screwed over or failed or know someone that has failed. That’s life… WINNERS get up and keep going. Frank Sinatra said it best – “Dust yourself off… Start all over again!”
Back to the question at hand: What was the catch? Off of the top of my head I told the man – the only catch is – this is a business like any other business. YOU have to run it as such and with any business comes problems. It’s not going to run smoothly all the time. You are going to have issues pop up left and right and all over the place and it’s up to you to make it work. I also told the man – call 10 businesses from the phone book right now… ask the owner, if you can get the owner, if they ever run into problems or things go REALLY wrong sometimes? Go ahead… and call me back when you are done.
NONE of those business owners will ever say – it’s smooth as silk… we never have problems… and… if they do… WE WOULD BUY THEIR BUSINESS ASAP… hahaha. The reality is – nothing runs smoothly and problems are all around us. It’s up to us to solve those problems and move on. Profits go to the problem solvers. Not the quitters.
This got me thinking about business and life. There isn’t an exact yellow brick road to follow. Every business is different and will face their own set of problems. Business is full of ups and downs and twists and turns. There is no exact path to follow to get you to the emerald city.
The journey we are taking is hardly the yellow brick road. We may set out in the light with hope and joy but eventually our path always seems to lead us to the woods, shrouded with a low lying mist. –John Eldredge
I would have told him that business reflects life…with one exception…the catch of life is death. If he can stay positive understanding that, then a few business ups and downs ain’t no thing but a chicken wing. But then again, you could have upsold him a lifetime subscription to the problem solver hotline. Be he’d probably have a problem with that too! Just get him a bucket.