From Courage to Freedom!
By · CommentsThe secret of Happiness is Freedom. The secret of Freedom is Courage- Thucydides 450 AD
When I started my business I had no idea what I would do, how I would do it or whether I would succeed at it. I had no one to guide me as everyone I knew was either employed or professionals associated with large firms. A wise mentor told me, Suspend the need to know how, just begin. So I did. But not without some trepidation!
Every successful person has had to deal with fear. The road to hell might be paved with good intentions, but the road to success is abundantly littered with fear and uncertainty. No crystal ball security here!
The biggest difference between a person that is outrageously successful and someone that is not is that the successful ones have the courage to take massive and significant action on a consistent basis. Read More→
Of Cookies and Marketing
By · CommentsEvery Child is a born genius- Richard Buckminster Fuller
Every once in a while along comes a child and teaches me the most amazing lesson!
For those of you who have children, it is probably the most intense education you have ever had. For me, I learn vicariously from other people’s children. A friend told me that her little 7 year old wanted to speak to me because she wanted to be in business for herself just like I was.
I was , of course delighted to accommodate this request and spent a lovely afternoon with Hannah drinking orange juice out of wine glasses and generally helping her understand the basics of setting up a small business model for her to get her pretty little toes wet in the world of business. We sat down with a pad of paper and sketched out all the things she enjoyed doing.
Having identified that she liked baking cookies with her mom, we decided that would be her first venture in the world of business. She would bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies and sell them to the neighbours. Read More→
When Preparation Meets Opportunity
By · CommentsWhen Opportunity strikes it is too late to prepare!
Always be prepared! You will never know when that life defining Opportunity is going to present itself!
How often have you had regrets about unexpected opportunities that presented themselves and wished if you had only planned better, taken that course, put in that little bit of extra effort, studied a bit harder, thought a little deeper, accepted that invitation when it presented itself, put more energy into actively building a relationship?
It has been my experience (and I don’t say the word lightly) that nothing that I have ever invested time and effort into has ever gone wasted. And only if I put my whole heart into whatever it was I was doing! Read More→
Grow Up to Go Up
By · CommentsLife is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead. – Morihei Ueshiba
One of my clients asked me recently, “How can I grow my organization?”. The answer is simple. Grow your people! Most business owners and Corporations appear to focus on adding processes to improve their performance, seeking technical expertise and outwitting the competition. And yet they don’t seem to grow as fast as they would like and are forever running at top speed on the same groove just to maintain the same position.
The only thing that differentiates a growing organization from a stagnant one is the intentional development and growth of its best resource. The individuals that work in the Organization. No matter what their skill set, motivation and effort…If they are not growing, they are dead. And you cannot force growth in an organization or in life, if we have withered people with dead dreams and no motivation to improve.
As in Leadership, there are some basic Laws for Growth!
Take a tree. If it is growing, it will have its roots grounded in fertile soil. Its Branches bear green shoots at its growing tips. It reaches towards the sunlight and is nurtured and nourished by the nutrients in the soil and by steady access to a water source. And most importantly, in due season it bears fruit!
The same is true for any person!
Castles in the Air
By · CommentsIf you have built Castles in the Air, your work need not be lost, that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them. -Henry David Thoreau.
The one thing that distinguishes us from other living beings is our imagination and the wild dreams that we can conjure up are just castles in the air with no basis or foundation in reality!