I clearly remember that seven years from starting my independent insurance agency, I was discouraged and ready to throw in the towel! Seven whole years and I was barely keeping the agency profitable. As a last-ditch effort, I decided to sign up for a special workshop for owners of small businesses. The workshop was presented by a panel of local CEOs whose businesses I recognized as some of the top businesses in Louisville! So, I thought for sure I would be quite embarrassed to share how slow it was developing my business. To my great surprise, the very first thing they shared was that the average time it took for their businesses to flourish was right at 11 years! Several of them shared being on the verge of bankruptcy. Another shared about a time when he had to let go of over ½ of his employees.
I remember being truly shocked and amazed! But I learned a valuable lesson from that workshop that I have never forgotten. The #1 most important quality to be successful is PERSISTENCE! Many businesses start with the idea that they will find “overnight” success! They are impatient and want instant results in the “microwave society” in which we now live. They somehow believe they can “beat the game,” and their success will be unprecedented! And when it doesn’t happen right away, they “pick up their ball and go home.”
I was recently interviewed by a local business newspaper as being selected as a Business Legacy Award Winner. I wanted to tell them about the great ideas and schemes I came up with to find success. I wanted to tell them how I out-smarted the insurance marketplace and found the fast-track to success. But, both of those statements would be lies. The truth is that we never quit; we continued to concentrate on the basics of our business and didn’t spend all of our time looking for the easier, softer way; and we understood that our “brand” could only be built over time with a lot of sweat equity.
If it doesn’t happen quickly, doesn’t mean it is not going to happen. It just means that really, really good things in life do not come from a microwave!