The PATTERNS of success - ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

by Monty Loree

by Monty Loree ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNERI thought I would write about my business experiences for our newsletter subscribers. Getting into business is difficult and I want to encourage everybody to keep going, using my story. Please feel free to pass this letter on to your entrepreneurial friends.INTRODUCTIONI have been a business builder since 1992. In that time I have seen my business at all phases. As it has grown, I have seen the same patterns at each stage.I started my advertising business in 1994 with no cash and no assets except a computer. I just had an idea. (On the one side, I had my business idea. On the other side, I had NO idea of what I was getting into!) I knew at that point that I would need to commit to this business for the long haul. It was a something I knew I had to do. I left my job as a financial analyst and moved with my new family - 2500 miles back home to do this. It was going to have to work. My wife fortunately has had the patience and strength of the Rock of Gibraltar to stick with me on this difficult path.PATTERN #1- RESOURCES ARE TIGHTThis was the first problem that I had to deal with right off the bat. I had no cash to buy equipment, and I didn't have much cash to buy food either. I decided to make some cold calls and do some 'horse trading' with computer companies. I told them, "I will trade you my services for a few cheap old clunker computers. And, by the way, I'll need the computers first so that I can perform the service for you." This pitch took a great deal of creativity, guts and persistence, but eventually I convinced some 'kind' computer dealers into my plan.PATTERN #2- WHAT DO I DO NEXT?The next problem that I had was that: although I knew that my idea was great and had great possibility, I had never been in the data transmission and advertising business before. I had no experience. I had a basic understanding of what I needed to do. To make it even more complex, because it is a computer technology business, nobody in my city had any experience either.I was on my own to develop the business and technology. When I needed to learn the fundamentals of advertising, I went to the library and read books about branding and basic ad writing.Next I needed to learn the graphic software. I had a basic idea of how the software should work, but the trick was to learn the graphic software while learning how to put ads together.After that I needed to learn how to develop and program a database.AND ON AND ON!! The learning hasn't ended yet.PATTERN #3- WHY AM I DOING THIS AGAIN?The $$profit that I was made while wallowing through the muck of all the new things to learn was pretty close to $0.00. Being that we're cash people, (which means that we have paid cash for all of our equipment and software over the years) we were even more tight financially.We lived on fumes for the first 6 years of our business. Our friends kept telling us about the wonderful purchases they had made. The boats and cars, and trailers. While we were mildly jealous about the purchases, we knew that eventually we would be able to have these types of things if we really wanted them. It still made us wonder if we were ever going to make any money with this business.PATTERN #4- KEEP GOING, WHETHER I LIKE IT OR NOTThose who know me, know that I love what I do for a living. And quitting is not an option. At some points however, the business has been so difficult on myself and the family financially, emotionally, mentally that I have wanted to quit. I have asked myself thousands of times, "Why am I doing this again?". Many times the business was just plain frustrating and exhausting. After a while you ask yourself in a much deeper sense, "Why am I doing this?". My spouse is mad at me. The kids haven't seen me in a while. My friends think I'm crazy. I'm just learning what I need to do. I'm not making any money. The customers are complaining. At this moment I'm really asking myself, "Why am I doing this?".Sometimes the answer is, "Keep going, things will get better", because nothing else is logically a good answer.Each time I have asked the question of why I should keep going, I have always developed a deeper and stronger 'WHY'. After each bad time, I knew more deeply why I needed to continue on developing the business. I developed rock solid patience, persistence, resourcefulness and the will to succeed. Not only that, even though the frustrations got bigger, the amount of satisfaction got bigger each time the frustrations were resolved.PATTERN #5- THE REWARDSThese days we (myself and my wife) are truly enjoying ourselves. The vast amount of sacrifices are paying off. We are enjoying a satisfying success. We are making money. We enjoy the people we work with, and the clients we serve.We've enjoyed the satisfaction of getting the first sale, to developing an international business. From learning the first programming techniques to having a staff who are developing world class software and service. We have helped people advertise their business all over the world.We have 'job security'. (I often complain that I can't get fired even if I wanted to.) We don't have to worry about being unemployed as we are offered more opportunities than we can handle. We are rewarded for our perseverance. People know that we are in for the long term.We work our own hours, and have flexibility that most people dream about. Our kids are very well taken care of in all respects. They have our time and attention. We can get over to the school if they need our attention. My wife works her schedule around the kids school so that she's always there for them.Because we've always kept debt free, we don't worry about creditors. We buy the best quality things that we need. We don't buy the luxury items that we used to be jealous of. We know that we now can afford them if we really wanted.We live life on our own terms.PATTERN #6- START OVER FROM PATTERN #1Now that our business has grown and solidified, we are still facing the same types of challenges that we did when we first started. The only difference is the size and scope. The frustrations are still the same but just at a different level. The resources are still limited when we're growing the business. I still have to resort to 'horse trading' at some points. I still ask myself "Why am I doing this?", and I still tell myself to "KEEP GOING". These patterns will continue to exist for as long as we own and try to grow our business. The rewards in all respects just keep getting better and better. -------------------------------So often there are motivational books written about how you can reach for the stars. Not much is written about the pain and reality and perseverance that are required to make your goals work. It was my purpose with this article to talk about our real experiences, and how we have dealt with them.www.express-marketing.com

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