Just when you think everything is under control, life gives you a good dose of reality and gets you back in your place. This did not happen to us this last to weeks. Well, then why are you writing about it, you might ask yourself, and the answer is quite simple, because I am telling you it is bound to happen.

Just like when you throw a baseball, whether you are a pitcher or a little kid playing, you know that the ball, sooner than later is going to have to come down. If you can’t realize that, then you are not accepting your reality, and that certainly is dangerous.

As an entrepreneur, you need to always stay grounded in your emotions, we have talked about this several times. You also need to stay grounded in your plans, as they might make most sense when things are going good but then all of a sudden as things turn, they might make no sense at all and place your business in jeopardy.

There is no freaking way that we can foresee anything and everything thrown our way. Just this week I had a client tell me that there is another company with real bad blood against me. He was not concerned, from what I could see, but mostly surprised. I told him why I thought this was happening and he seemed very satisfied and surprised at my calm demeanor. I told him that business decisions from 10 years ago made me enemies, it gave great success to my old employer and not so good for them as competitors. I guess they can’t let it go and that is fine with me. He was surprised I did not speak badly about them, and I told them that they are a good company and have a great product, they just think differently than I do and I do not hold grudges in my personal life, I am not going to do it in my business life either. That is no way to live!

In essence, I expect that all the good things that are happening around us, one day stop. They do not have to go away, but it can all of a sudden bring us some bad news. We can’t always expect good news and think that success is eternal. I am sure there will be some instances where we bang our heads against the desk and ask why us? Well, being grounded helps you deal with that. If you can’t, then challenges can be very bitter and hard to work through.

Keep Calm and Stay Humble…

2017 has come and already we have one month down.  How amazing is that?  I thought we were just eating turkey and watching football a couple of weeks back at my brother’s home?  Needless to say, 2017 has been a reaaaaal busy time.

Let’s start off by saying, and this is for the benefit of all those who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur; this is maybe not be the year to do so, in my own humble opinion.  There are a lot of uncertainties in the economy and in the political climate. Lots of unknown factors and surprises.  But I will also say this: nothing is certain, perhaps precisely because of these same reasons, this is the year to do so!  Large and medium size companies get affected by regulation at a much quicker rate than the little guy. What is going to happen to your job next week if new laws come into play out of nowhere? Well I guess that settles that, you may not want to be an entrepreneur, but if you are thinking about it, make sure you have some savings ready at your disposal and that you start planning just in case.

For us, this has been a blessed month. Record sales and record income. We are extremely thankful to have people who have believed in us and more than anything, that we have been able to deliver and meet their expectations.  My main concern is servicing our customers well, and that requires taking a step back and accepting our limitations.  So, last week, we made a decision that in order to make sure that Customer Service was not an issue, we would have to invest in more personnel or in better technology.  At this point in time, we will be going with more personnel.  Technology can help you so much, but I feel that it is critical to have a human touch to our growth and not become to distant from our customers. It also gives an opportunity to someone to come and help us out for 10-15 hours a week and for us to start understanding how to make our growth more efficient.

As time passes, we have to consider that growth brings in less attention to our customers if we do not place the necessary resources at their disposal, then we become just another “effing broker” and we certainly do not want that.  We should be considered part of their success, if not, we are not adding value and then we become obsolete, just a middleman, and you know what happens then…

Stay Calm and Keep Humble,,,