We currently live in a “microwave society” where it has become the norm for us to expect everything to happen in real-time. We have instant news (both real and fake); we have entertainment of all kinds at our fingertips, and we can connect with our friends and business associates in micro-time. But, there is one thing that we cannot “microwave” and that is SUCCESS in our business and personal lives. Success almost always takes time and that demands persistence.
In 1990, I was seven years into my business. We were surviving, but certainly not a success at that point. I decided to enroll in a workshop for CEOs of small businesses and it changed my outlook for the better. The first thing that was revealed was that the average time for a small business to find true success was 11 years! I was shocked because I knew many of the businesses in the workshop and I couldn’t believe that they, too, had struggled the first 10 years of their existence! It gave me a new perspective and new hope.
Certainly, there are businesses that SEEM to be overnight successes. But often there is failure and frustration before success. Steve Jobs hit the wall several times before Apple became a success. Even INSTAGRAM wasn’t an instant success! The founders of the company almost gave up several times in the early years of that now well-known company.
Building a small business, insurance or otherwise, takes grit, determination and a willingness to “stay the course”. Nothing that is truly worthwhile comes easy. Real success is always preceded by anxiety, doubt, and sometimes, desperation. The true entrepreneur must-have the qualities of persistence and perseverance to become truly successful.
So many of us today “want what we want and we want it right now!” But success simply does not come that way. Suiting up and showing up each day, doing the little things consistently and persistently, but always keeping your “eye on the prize” will almost always result in success!
2020 is a New Year – Stay the Course!
– Tim Hyland
