Strategies and Tactics for Women by Dr. Shannon Reece

One of the most difficult parts of starting a business is having the patience, determination, and faith to get it to the point of profitability.  The overnight success is truly a myth.  When you hear stories about how someone’s blog went from 100 to 5,000 subscribers in a week, or how someone launched their first product and made $100K, you have to wonder how much time was invested before those moments, that led to such “amazing” results.

The Truth Behind the Curtain

The back stories are what most people leave out.  You don’t hear about how it took two years, investing an entire life savings, 16 hour days, sleepless nights, and many moments contemplating throwing in the towel.  Starting a business is not an easy process.  It’s, more often than not, an arduous uphill climb, with many twists, turns, and falls along the way.  But it can really be worth the journey.

It’s an All or None Proposition

Becoming an entrepreneur means going in 100%.  You can’t commit half-way and expect to be victorious.  Imagine if our brave men and women in the U.S. military were committed to giving less than 100% to their jobs each day.  We would have far more casualties than the too many we’ve had to date.  Their mission requires them to give it their all, or risk losing it all.  Why should your approach to your business be any less of a commitment?

What that requires, especially when it’s so hard to see the promised land of profit, is a leap of faith every day.  You aren’t blindly moving in a randomly chosen direction.  Your faith is based on a solid plan of action, and a course you are maintaining built from diligent and strategic preparation, just like a soldier.  You can’t control the world around you, so there will be surprises along the way.  But boldly taking the next step forward each day, despite the challenges, strengthens your faith in your ability to make it all the way to your destination.

Which Path Will You Choose?

If you’ve done your research, established a logical plan of action, have the funding to make your dream a reality, and are still hesitating, perhaps you just need a little bit of faith.  If you never take the leap, you will never know the life you desire.  So you have to decide which one is more frightening — staying where you are, or trying to live the life you know you were born to live?

© 2011 Reece International LLC/Dr. Shannon Reece. All rights reserved.