Sticking With the Program

Anything worth having is worth the time an energy in developing. That saying is especially true when it comes to building a business or for that matter a networking group. In our case, it applies to both. You see for the past year Linda and I have been knee deep in developing an Interior Design firm and simutaneously building a networking group.

I know what some of you are about to say, "What are you kidding me?" I get a lot of that. Most people are just overwhelmed with just getting up in the morning and going to work, for someone else, let alone run a startup business. Linda and I have had a great training bed even before we decided to go into business, full time for ourselves.

We started out many years ago working for various church organizations. We would be the first ones in the door in the morning and help lock up at night long after everyone had gone home. In our travels we had started many programs and built teams of people to satisfy the need. In addition we would still have to do our regular 9-5. So working on a few businesses really isn't all that hard.

The hard thing to do for most of us though is to stick with the program when we haven't had the advantage of being workaholic slobs like the Rays. When you don't have this foundation, what do you do?
I wish I could tell you that there are seven wonderful tips that I could give you that will prepare you for this sort of dedication but alas I don't have any tips. I can tell you what helped us and maybe you can glean something from our experience that may prepare you for your own venture.

We established a relationship with an organization that was moving forward.

This may be the foremost important thing that you can do. Align yourself with an organization that already is moving forward. This relationship will ensure that you won't be involved with a crew that is going nowhere, In our case it was the International Church of Las Vegas.
ICLV was a small church with a global vision. It's pastor is a driven man who demands excellence and innovation from his people. This sort of relationship is vital to their forward movement and global impact.

Seek out mentors who are driven more than you.

It is easier to become better when those around you are better than you are. In my case we were surrounded by people who were well travelled, educated, financially able and dedicated to becoming successful. In this inner circle of people there was no room for losers. You were either a winner or poised on the vurge of being a winner. As a matter of fact, we spent more time praying that everyone around us would become a winner than we did worrying about if someone had failed or not. You see we just didn't have time to think about failure. We were too busy building and achieving.

Volunteer for the hard jobs.

During our formative years we were urged to step out of our comfort zone and become well-rounded workers. You see up until that point all Linda and I had really done was teach a few classes and sing alot. At the urging of a mentor, we immersed ourselves in areas that we had never even thought of going. That proved to be the best thing we ever did. Within a few short years, we found ourselves utilizing these new skills in ways that were beyond our expectations.

Sticking with the program is all about seeing your dreams come to pass. In most cases it is a muscle that needs to be put to work. It may take a while to see the dream come to pass but like anything else that is worth having....it is worth waiting for.