En una noche obscura,
con ansias en amores imflamada,
¡oh dichosa uentura!
sali sin ser notada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada….
So began the great poem by Saint John of the Cross. While locked in an attic cell by his superiors and in grave danger of martyrdom at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition, John wrote of how this calamity caused his heart to soar.
Many of us are now in undeserved confinement. Some of us are in grave danger. Let us not pretend things to be otherwise, but do not let this confinement of the body become a poison to our souls. Take the time to reflect, imagine and even dream. Reach out, as did St. John, to things beyond yourself and your current condition. Reconnect with who you are and why you have chosen your current path. Rewrite your story and prepare for the dawn that is coming.
Small business owners, you will be hurt economically by what has happened. Nevertheless, this could be your opportunity to rethink everything and start many things anew. Give thought to:
- Why did you start your business anyway?
- What has fundamentally changed with you or your circumstances that might make your mission look vastly different?
- What has pulled you away from your real mission – the real you?
- What do you have to throw overboard to get you back to your real intent?
- Who will help you do that and who will not?
Write these things down. Don’t write a business plan yet…there will be time for that later. Rather, write your epic poem. Pour out your soul and then read it aloud. I think you will be surprised with what you say to yourself. Be careful, however, that you don’t let the past define who you are. You may have become an Accountant because you liked understanding numbers, working with business owners, understanding taxation or helping people build wealth. It is not likely that you became an Accountant because you were born one or destined to be one. Hence, your future might include giving up your CPA and moving on to something else that actually expresses your personal mission even more than being a CPA.
Too often we let events, the fear of consequences and short-term “opportunities” steal our dreams from us. More often the effects are more subtle. Our business and the messages we use to describe our businesses drift away from original intents and passions. We are no longer able to describe what we do. Not because we don’t believe in our mission but because the day-to-day has become filled with the tasks and the people that don’t exactly match that mission.
There is a sad tale about what happened to western farmers in the dust bowl days. Many of them defined themselves as farmers and not as husbands, fathers, mentors, leaders or many other basic attributes. Many dust bowl farmers held onto shattered land dreams so long that they we virtually incapable of doing anything but fall into poverty. Others moved on to California to start over before they were completely exhausted. Still others found other work in the growing oil and gas or services industries. They didn’t “remake” themselves. They redeployed their talents and renewed their dreams.
So, let the words you have written be a guide to your thoughts. Get comfortable with who you really are and then try to squeeze them into action plans. Think about what the “daily grind” has crushed out of you in the past few years and how you might regain your enthusiasm. Once you get some of these things in writing, share them with one or more friends in honest conversations. Frequently our close friends see our strengths and weaknesses far more clearly than we do. By the way, cherish such friends as these.
A time is coming, and it will only be a few months, when this sweet madness, this glorious sadness, will be but a memory. We will soon be back in the day-to-day. Don’t let this time pass without taking stock of who you are, where you wanted to go and what you will do when new opportunities arise.
The Colorado Center for Innovation in Capital (CCICC) helps small businesses raise capital. For more information visit www.cc4icc.com or email [email protected].
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