***Measuring your Success like the Farmer

"Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out." – Robert Collier. It’s so easy in this day and age to be impatient with success. Patience is definitely not a virtue that is a cultural norm in the USA in 2010. So, it’s really easy to think that we are failures if we don’t make a million dollars in 3 months like the Guru’s on the inte et would have us believe. Rather, success in business is much more like success for a farmer. The farmer knows that seeds need good soil, sunlight, water and weeding and time to grow into fruit bearing crops. Daily, the farmer works to tend those crops and a tiny seed can then produce food with hundreds of seeds. So, each day for your business, work on it like it was your farm. So, if the seed is your business concept and a healthy crop is your successful potential, let’s look at what it will take for you to succeed. Soil- nourishment: Work here on making sure that your product or service is of high quality. Invest in yourself and the quality of your offerings. Do you need more education or to invest in a tool or program to improve your quality? An investment in yourself or your business up front can lead to higher quality outcomes down the road. If you short cut what you are doing, it will lead nowhere. You can’t plant weeds and reap healthy crops. Sunlight- encouragement: Surround yourself with people who believe in you and your mission. Let them shed warm sunshine of encouragement to give you energy for the work. Be sunshine for others as well. Business ownership is difficult and having support is a big factor in insuring that you make to the harvesting phase. Water- revitalization: Getting enough water is life or death for a plant. Water refreshes, revitalizes and brings health the plant. Activity, working your business is your water. If a farmer took a pitcher of water and dipped his fingers into that pitcher and flicked water on his plants every so many days, would that grow a healthy plant? Of course not. Not working on your business each day to bring in new customers is the same thing. Weeding- purging of negativity: Weeds choke out the healthy crops. Have you ever noticed that weeds tend to like neglect? They grow quickly and out of control, just like negative thoughts can do. Don’t let negativity creep into your thought life because it will quickly kill off your business. And don’t surround yourself with negative people. Take those thoughts captive and you will weed your business garden. Time- patience: Can you imagine a farmer going out one day and planting some seeds and then one week later being disappointed that there was no crop? Success takes time. Work on your business and yourself every day. Measure your success by your effort and not by your income when your business is new. Activity leads to victory over time. Give yourself time. Just like the farmer, there are seasons to a successful business. There is a time for planting, a time for sowing and a time for reaping. When you plant and sow properly, you will reap. It may take time, but stick with it, and you will harvest a crop of success in the proper time. And then, there will be more seeds!