When I first started here at Thrive business conferences I was unaware of how the business world operated. I thought that the only companies that were making it were the big companies like Walmart, Lowes, Nike, and so on. I had no idea that there was a proven path that could help small businesses grow. The longer I work here the more I learn and the more I understand how it all fits together. This past weekend we had another one of our two-day business conferences. This conference was smaller than the one from December but just as powerful! Conferences are a great time for me to meet the business owners who I write SEO for. It gives me a chance to see what sort of impact I have on their businesses even though I do not interact with them on a daily or weekly basis. These conferences are great because these same business owners who at one point were struggling to make it are now able to speak about how our business coaching program has changed their life for the better.
For personal development, looking back at who and where you were at the start is a powerful motivator to keep going.
You see all these big companies who are making millions and might think “it must be nice to have that kind of dough”. That is how the majority of people see people who are driving bright red Lamborghinis or a beautiful white Audi R8 as well. They see the end goal but not the years of hard work and struggle it took to make it where they are today. At the conference, I really noticed how many owners of a business that right now are just killing it but ten years ago, five years ago or even a year ago were struggling to make ends meet. They had either been in business for fifteen years and still had no idea what they were doing or they might be at the end of the bankruptcy. It is absolutely wonderful to see the transformation as they see just how far they have come.
I talk about where these owners come from because it is easy to get caught up in all the success, the big houses, and fancy cars, that they forget where they came from and how they got there. I often think about where I came from, being a handyman, and then going to work at Lowes for a while. I think about how different my life would have been if events had played out differently. The fact is without this place I would still be in college going to earn a degree that I had no desire to earn but it’s what everyone said I needed to earn to be successful. Remembering where I came from and what it took to get where I am today keeps driving me forward to learn more, and earn more as well. Those that look at success and think “must be nice” are a plague to society. They are the ones that have no work ethic, have no drive, and simply are waiting for a free handout from those that worked hard for the past ten to fifteen years.
For some they think looking back is a bad thing, they are looking to the future. However, for personal development looking back at who and where you were at the start is a powerful motivator to keep going. The business conferences are a great time for me and many of the business owners to look back at where their business was six months to a year ago and see what progress they have made. All of these owners at this conference made sacrifices early on and now they are reaping the benefits from them. One of my favorite quotes comes from the Transformers movies and it goes, “No Sacrifice, No Victory”. Even though it is from a made-up character the message hits home to myself as I make the early sacrifices to get the victory.
