Tag Archive for 'inspiration'

Be thankful

Published
by
davonna
on 4:45 pm
in Entrepreneurship and Inspirational and Motivational
. 0 Comments

Americans punctuate each year with the Thanksgiving holiday as a way of perpetuating a 390-year-old tradition begun by a rag-tag group of our forebears. That first time, in 1621, thanksgiving day wasn’t the proper noun it became. It was just a day set aside by a few dozen humans who risked everything, actually lost most of it, were hard-by to any number of dangers that could cost them the rest, but still felt compelled to be thankful for what they had.

Regardless of where you live on planet Earth, let me leave you with a list of things to think about. This is not my list. When we’ve published it before in this space with attribution to Anonymous, some of my readers have attributed it to Mother (Saint) Theresa, which suits me just fine. I’m thankful I found it and have the ability to pass it along.

Be thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means you have enough to eat.

Be thankful for the mess you clean up after a party, because it means you have been surrounded by friends.

Be thankful for the taxes you pay, because it means you’re employed.

Be thankful that your lawn needs mowing and your windows need fixing, because it means you have a home.

Be thankful for your heating bill, because it means you are warm.

Be thankful for the laundry, because it means you have clothes to wear.

Be thankful for the space you find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means you can walk.

Be thankful for the lady who sings off key behind you in church, because it means you can hear.

Be thankful for the alarm that goes off in the early morning, because it means you are alive.

And finally, here is mine: I’m thankful for small business owners — the most courageous and most important modern-day pilgrims I know.

Admiring two kinds of American heroes

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on 10:47 am
in Entrepreneurship and Inspirational and Motivational
. 0 Comments

Every four years, you can watch special people participate in a noble cause – the Olympics.
These heroes commit countless hours over many years to achieve a level of excellence that might somehow qualify them to represent their country in the Olympic Games.

Notice no mention of winning, medals or glory. Most Olympians find neither. And yet they train and compete.

Watching an event, we’re at once self-conscious and grateful as the camera’s lens permits us to invade that private moment just prior to competition. Self-conscious because of the intrusion, but grateful to share the moment and benefit vicariously from the Herculean effort and sacrifice.

The TV camera moves in closer. We can actually see the color of their eyes — even imagine their thoughts.

The swimmer: “Twelve years of training and it all comes down to the next few seconds – must remember the fundamentals.”

The gymnast: “Today I will perform my personal best.”

Then the long lens captures the mouth. There’s a lick to fight the cottonmouth that only those who risk failure have tasted. The lips move ever so slightly, as if to offer a short prayer or claim an affirmation.

Every day, you can watch another group of special people participate in a noble cause – small business.
Small business owners are a lot like Olympic athletes. They commit countless hours over many years, pushing mind and body to achieve a level of excellence that might somehow allow them to merely … make a living.

Notice no mention of winning, medals or glory. Most small business owners find neither. And yet they show up, year after year, to work, compete, and contribute.

Like an Olympic race, sometimes the future of a small business’ success rides on how well the owner performs over a very short period of time. If the camera could take you in close, you might see an owner thinking: “All these years of work and risk could come down to how well I deliver this proposal in the next few minutes - must remember the fundamentals.”

The long lens would also capture the lick to lessen the cottonmouth that only those who risk failure have tasted. Then the lips move ever so slightly, as if to offer a prayer or claim an affirmation.

Olympians and small business owners are dedicated to what they love. Both work hard, in search of excellence, take great risks against all odds, and usually at their own expense.

I’ll gladly spend my admiration on that kind of spirit.

Write this on a rock … Because of Olympians and small business owners, the world is a better place.

Small business owners have the right stuff

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on 8:00 am
in Entrepreneurship and Inspirational and Motivational
. 0 Comments

One of my favorite books is The Words Lincoln Lived By, by our good friend and Brain Trust member, Gene Griessman. That’s where I found this Lincoln quote about tenacity:

“I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsakes me.”

Sound familiar? If you are a small business owner, I bet it sounds very familiar. It might even give you a little chill when you read those 140-year-old words. you know, hearing the essence of your being translated into the spoken word in a way in which you may never have actually spoken it out loud.

As an Army officer I was taught to be responsible for everything my unit did or failed to do. In small buisness, and you’ve heard me say this before, “You turn the lights on, you turn the lights off. Whatever it takes.”

Tenacity. I sure do like that word, and I admire tenacious people. Are you tenacious? The tenacious have the courage of their convictions. Courage, period. Passion. A strong spirit. Maybe even an indomitable spirit.

If you are a small business owner you know how far down inside of you that you have to reach to rise above all of the challenges, train wrecks and surprises that are thrown at you. Sometimes deeper than you knew you could. Testing your mettle. I don’t care what anybody says, astronauts are heroes, but they don’t own the franchise on “the right stuff.” Small business owners have it, too.

I am so proud of you.

Strengthen your spirit and watch how high you soar

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on 8:27 am
in Entrepreneurship, Future thinking, Innovation - Creativity and Inspirational and Motivational
. 0 Comments

Do you know what a jet fighter is?  If you said airplane, you’re only half right.  In the strict nomenclature, a jet fighter is actually a weapons platform. Its job is to deliver ordinance to a target, not to fly the pilot around.

In that sense, the human body - his vessel of protoplasm we drive around - is not really what a human is. It’s actually a delivery platform for the will of our spirit; the true life force that is who we really are.

One of the things I have observed about humans is that we often don’t understand, and therefore tend to under-employ, the power of our spirit. We seem so obsessed with the body that we don’t spend enough time contemplating the presence and power of the spirit.

Someone once told me how little of our brain’s power we actually use.  I don’t remember the percentage, but I do remember it was astonishingly low.  I wonder if there is a connection between under-usage of the brain and limited awareness of the spirit.

Author and philosopher, Colin Wilson, wrote, “We possess such immense resources of power that pessimism is a laughable absurdity.” The power he’s talking about is that of the spirit.

Pessimism can’t be overcome by our bodies. Dealing with frustration and overcoming disappointment are both tasks performed way above the pay-grade of protoplasm. If you are a small business owner you either already understand this, or are acquiring that understanding a little more every day.

I’ve been a small business owner for a long time and have observed others far longer. I can’t imagine how any of us could do what we do without a strong spirit.  The challenge is to become more aware of our spirit and flex it - like a muscle - to our advantage.

Being a small business owner will change you

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on 8:53 am
in Entrepreneurship and Future thinking
. 0 Comments

If you don’t like change don’t become a small business owner. If you like everything about who you are and will never want to change, don’t follow the path of an entrepreneur.

The forces in the world of small business will change you. If you survive, you will become smarter, tougher, more self-confident, more aware of your instincts, and know more about what you’re made of than ever before. If you survive.

Charles Francis Adams, Jr., historian and grandson of John Quincy Adams, once observed that, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, “…developed immensely;  he became in fact another being. History, indeed, hardly presents an analogous case of education through trial.”

During your life as a small business owner, you will acquire an education through trial and this education will change you. Armed with that understanding you can embrace the education, value the changes, and develop immensely.

And thanks for being part of my community. I’ll see you on the radio and the Internet.

Seeking due diligence in business

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on 8:30 am
in Entrepreneurship, Future thinking, Innovation - Creativity and Inspirational and Motivational
. 0 Comments
As we conduct the due diligence on what’s next for our business, we seek the information that will help us acquire knowledge and create conditions that minimize the risks and maximize the opportunity.  After all, we want to be as certain as possible that our next step is the right one, don’t we?
That’s an interesting word, certain.  Webster says it means fixed, settled, determined, not to be doubted. But it’s a word that isn’t often found in business plans.
The 19th century president of Harvard University, Charles W. Eliot, said, “All business proceeds on beliefs, or judgment of probabilities, and not on certainties.”
What do you think the marketplace — indeed, the world — would look like if business had been built more on certainties than beliefs? I think we would probably be closer to wearing a stone ax on our belt than a smartphone.
It’s important to understand that on the entrepreneurial scale, each of us resides somewhere between the foolhardy and seekers of certainty. The challenge for entrepreneurs is to know when to seek certainty and when to move forward with our beliefs.
No position on this scale is better than another — the world needs all kinds of entrepreneurs. But understanding where we reside on the entrepreneurial scale helps us make better business plans.

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