Something From Nothing, With Something To Share

Starting your own business is hard enough, however when yourinside people are working against you as well, it can make thetoughest of souls weak at the knees.

Let me take you back a few years, and share a little story withyou.

There I was, a fledgling in the corporate world, I had just quitmy (steady) job and sold everything I had to venture out intoentrepreneur life, when “it never could happen to me” happened.

My closest friend and business partner wiped out our bank accountbalance, leaving me with debt up to my eyeballs, and a lesson tobe learned.

I come from one of those attitudes that believe that everythinghappens for a reason, so what could this reason be, I pondered?

It was tough; let me tell you - faced with the biggest crossroadof my life.

A failing business with no cash to save me, a close friend’sbetrayal, and two roads leading into separate directions.

One, go after the person who did me wrong, obviously having aslam dunk case and would win in any court. Or two, use that sameprecious time and energy to focus in a more positive manner onrebuilding what I once had, and learn from the experience, ifnothing else, what I would never tolerate again.

What would you do?

For myself, I chose the second of the two, knowing darned well,that by wasting my thoughts and energy on ways to get back atthis person, and how I could make them suffer as I, there wouldbe little left to focus on what really mattered most:

-- > Creating the business model and dream that I had began in the first place.

What made me take this route, you ask?

There is an old saying that goes ‘many receive good advice, yetfew actually profit from it.‘

Since I chose to succeed, I went back and listened to all my oldmotivational tapes, thumbed through the books, and messages, gotmy focus back and quickly realized that we are all dealtobstacles in this world.

I mean, there will always be stumbling blocks in our lives,that’s just part of life itself.

It’s our “Attitude” toward these events that show the world whowe are as a person.

For, it’s been said: we learn more about someone on one bad day,than on all their good days put together.

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to always have dramain their lives, while others simply go with the flow? Or why onegroup of people are happy and content most the time, while someseem to only attract anger and chaos into their lives?

I believe it’s because what we feel and how we see ourselves onthe inside is the direct reflection on how we feel and see theworld around us.

Someone once said to me, “we can’t control our circumstances allthe time, but we can control our attitude toward them.” A truestatement I know, but come on - I was stuck in a tight spot here.

So, there I was - with a BIG decision to make and decided to takeon this challenge as just that.

A challenge.

I figured, if I could overcome this situation that seemed sograve at the time, and not only make it through it, but actuallygrew from it, perhaps, maybe - just maybe my business partnerdidn’t fail me after all.

Here’s what I did.

I moved on and buried the past. I went into the office the nextday, changed the locks on the door, rolled up my sleeves andnever looked back.

It’s amazing what a new coat of paint can do to a dreary oldroom, and that’s what I did for my business and attitude towardit. Out with the old, and in with the new.

When I called all my customers and explained what had happened,you wouldn’t believe the response. It was like a brotherhood ofbusiness people. Each person I spoke with having more advice thatthe last. It was strange how I felt all-alone, and ashamed forletting someone take advantage of me, while others saw me as anew start up, and simply green behind the ears. Remember, we allmake mistakes.

There were many lessons learned that month, and I took the advicegiven to me by these people, by hiring the best accounting personI could find, and then one of the best of Tax firms to overseetheir numbers as well.

By doing so, guess what happened?

My business rose to the highest of dimensions, allowing me to setmy sights on growth rather than setbacks, and on the futurerather than the past.

That was many, many years ago. The company became a corporation,and eventually the corporation was sold to another.

Now I find myself here, writing this story as if it wereyesterday, remembering one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned.

In life - things will happen, both for the good and the bad. It’sthe way we handle these situations that make us who we are.

It’s all right to feel anger; it’s OK to sense pain, but in theend, when the story is written, which path will you have chosen?

Live in the past, or live FOR the future.

Best wishes, and what ever you do….

Keep Smilin'