Originally posted – Feb 19, 2013
Several months ago, I wrote a column entitled, “Philosophers in the Gift Shop.”
In that column, I mentioned how every Sunday I work in the emergency department of a large metropolitan Detroit hospital. And, within this hospital, there is a marvelous gift shop that contains a host of remarkable, carefully selected items of all types.
To me, one of the best features of this gift shop is its unique collection of greeting cards, each of which contains a positive and uplifting message. The cards are changed on a regular basis, so I occasionally stop by to check them out and see what’s new.
On a recent visit, I was pleased to find some new and very inspiring cards. Therefore, this article is somewhat of a sequel to the first one, featuring the “best of the latest”greeting card messages.
I’ll explain how you, as a self-service laundry owner, can apply this philosophical wisdom by weaving it into the fabric of your thinking, thereby enabling you to own and operate your small business in a more calm, relaxed, caring, optimistic and peaceful manner.
I have chosen six cards, which feature messages that best exemplify what I refer to as exuding a very healthy and optimistic “world view.”
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continuously fearful you will make one.”
How true and common this is. It also may be referred to as a fear of imperfection. And, in fact, if it occurs in great excess, it has a technical name as well – Atelophobia.
Fortunately, for most that have this problem it’s not excessive. However, it’s still nonetheless troublesome because it places limits on how proactive we are when operating our businesses.
Commonly, it’s related to being overly perfectionistic. It also often has to do with the fact that people generally fear experiencing a financial loss more than they are attracted to the possibility of a financial gain.
The “cure”to this problem is to take more appropriate business chances and to learn to become somewhat comfortable while being temporarily uncomfortable. If you do this often enough, in time the problem can become less of an issue – and your proactivity and success will increase.
“With every rising of the sun, think of your life as just begun.”
Every 24 hours, the earth completes one full rotation on its axis – and we all get to go along for the free ride. During that time, a lot of things often change or get rearranged, such as your energy level and attitude, as well as the world in general.
As a result, each morning you have the glorious opportunity to start fresh and accomplish great things under a new set of conditions.
Hall of Famer Bob Feller, who pitched 18 seasons for the Cleveland Indians, was famous for saying, “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success, or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.”
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a butterfly.”
It takes about two weeks for a caterpillar to become a beautiful butterfly and progress from simply crawling around on leaves and getting nowhere to soaring freely through the air with a much expanded view of the world.
There’s a great symbolic lesson here. Often, we as small-business owners, face many challenges. But how we view these events is solely up to us individually.
If caterpillars were to think, they just might think, “This is about as good as it gets,” and just give up or stop trying so hard. Yet, somehow they instinctually “know”to persevere, and in time they eventually develop their wings, become beautiful and soar. It works the same with business owners; sometimes you have to tediously crawl before you can soar. However, perseverance is the key.
British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill famously stated, “Never, never, never give up.” After all, without obstacles, there are no opportunities for growth.
Here’s a calming way to think of this: accept that every obstacle is placed in front of you to teach you something. Your job is to determine the lesson that is trying to be taught. It sure beats moaning and groaning over obstacles, which are inevitable and a part of life for all of us.
The types of lessons are unlimited. Perhaps an attendant is not completing a given task as quickly as you might expect and requires more encouragement. The lesson for you to learn is to become a more patient employer, and to see and accept the innocence in others.
“The one thing all famous authors, world class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors and celebrated achievers in any field have in common is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things.”
We all hear about successful people – once they become successful, that is. Prior to that, they are essentially anonymous to us. However, before they became accomplished, they put in plenty of time and effort to achieve their high degree of success.
Success occurs in steps. Popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary sang, “Inch by inch, row by row, that will make your garden grow”- and that is the typical chain of events for achieving lasting success.
There are many examples of people who started as unknowns and ultimately became household names. You can be one of them, too.
Henry Ford’s early business ventures (prior to his development of the first assembly line) left him broke five times. But he kept on going. I guess he had the “drive”to succeed.
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and began a business called Traf-O-Data, which failed. But he kept on going and now has a “sizable”bank account.
In his early years, Thomas Edison was actually told by teachers that he was “too stupid to learn anything.” In addition, he made about 1,000 unsuccessful attempts to invent the light bulb. However, he kept on going – and, on his 1,001st attempt, apparently the light went on.
In 1954, Elvis Presley was a complete unknown. In fact, the manager of the Grand Ole Opry fired him after watching him sing, telling him, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.” But he kept on going, and the music world got “all shook up.”
Michael Jordan, often described as the best basketball player of all time, was actually cut from his high school basketball team. But he kept on going, and the rest is in the basketball record books.
Steven Spielberg was rejected from the University of Southern California’s School Of Theater, Film and Television… three times! But he kept on going, and now he’s a film industry icon.
When just starting out, the Beatles were told by a recording company executive, “We don’t like your sound, and your guitar music is way out.” Good thing they didn’t listen. They kept on going and changed the world’s music.
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor who told him that he “lacked imagination”and had “no good ideas.” But Disney kept on going and, in the end, supercharged our entertainment world.
These are just a few examples. The lesson to be learned is clear – there are no shortcuts. Success is a constant journey and occurs by exerting a continuous effort with, of course, no errors in your fundamental premise and with a high degree of motivation and belief in yourself.
“Don’t overlook small joys by searching for the big ones.”
Joys come in all shapes and sizes. To use a baseball analogy, you can enjoy hitting a perfectly placed single just as much as slugging a grand slam.
When running your self-service laundry business, it’s wise to enjoy the small, everyday joys – such as a customer making a point of telling you how much she likes your store, or the grateful smile on the face of the delighted 7-year-old to whom you’ve just given a free candy bar, or how your newly hired attendant turned out to be an absolute gem.
Concentrate on the small joys, and in time the big ones will take care of themselves and appear. What’s more, doing so will make you a more patient and peaceful person with a higher degree of inner happiness and with less unrealistic expectations.
“Watch the sunrise at least once a year, and lie on your back and look at the stars.”
Yeah, I know a lot of us small-business owners take ourselves very seriously, are hard drivers and are very focused on growing market share, running our business daily and becoming financially successful. This, you may have noticed, can be stressful and tiring.
However, you would be amazed at the rejuvenation powers of little things that we often just don’t do. Enjoying a morning sunrise and gazing at the sky full of stars at night, for example, can put your life into perspective.
This is true because you can’t help but realize that you – despite how important you may think you are – are just a single individual and quite small in comparison with the universe. Your attitude and outlook will improve dramatically, and you will feel unburdened because you will now see that you are just too small to carry all of the problems of the world on your shoulders.
Here’s another small joy you can experience each and every day. People who truly listen to others without either interrupting them or focusing on what they want to say next once the other person stops talking are indeed rare. Nothing is more satisfying to a person than to be truly listened to. It endears them to you, and rightfully so.
You can do this in your laundry business by asking customers how they are and then fully listening and showing genuine concern. Not only will this bring joy to the person to whom you are listening but equally to you when you see their reaction, because one of the greatest gifts you can give to another is the sincerity of your attention. You have one mouth and two ears, so perhaps the lesson here is that you are designed to listen twice as much as you talk.
By the way, the words “listen”and “silent”contain the same exact letters… just in a different order. Interesting coincidence?
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