That would be enough to create a panic in people. Happy I don’t live in Florida anymore.
Why does so much panic spread so quickly and easily through so many people whenever tough times occur in a given industry or profession, or the national economy? (Or a bomb threat or small-dog-eating-alligators)
Without deep roots, the tree topples in the storm. What are ‘deep roots’ for the business owner or entrepreneur?
One, a system of selling and conducting business that has proven reliable and profitable, from which he can draw confidence, and which he can stick to with reasoned persistence. If he is advertising and marketing to attract customers, selling to them, retaining and multiplying them absent system, by random and erratic and even impulsive acts, with unplanned and disorganized effort, he’ll be blown off course by a stiff breeze.
Two, a support network including continuous in-flow of legitimately useful how-to information, coaching by people themselves tested by tough times and proven successful, encouragement and motivation from like-minded, optimistic, forward-thinking businesspeople. Absent this, with no counter-balance to the relentlessly and excessively negative voices of media and peers, he’ll bend then break early not late.
Three, a productive and profitable personal philosophy sharpened with reading, listening; study of successful achievers; association with the confident and capable, so that he is conditioned to be opportunistic, to search for and exploit the opportunities always concealed behind adversity. If he is not daily improving his personal philosophy, he is weakening from the inside out, the core hollow.
When Bilbo Baggins said, “I do not like adventures because they make me late for dinner”, he expressed profound personal philosophy governing thoughts, actions and outcomes. When someone says something as simple as “I don’t have time to process all that information – I have my business to run”, he unwittingly reveals profound personal philosophy as well.
You have to investigate your own personal philosophy and evaluate how helpful or unhelpful it is likely to be in weathering storms, in navigating rough seas, in unearthing hidden treasure.
- A productive and profitable,
- personal success philosophy.
- A sound, organized system.
- A trustworthy support network.
These assets do not develop by accident or luck or randomness. Successful people very deliberately work at developing them, seek to connect to the people and resources and associations most helpful in developing them – and once connected, never risk disconnecting. They strategically assemble these assets in keeping with their own goals, strengths and weaknesses. Key word: strategically.
