Take Charge

Taking charge of your life is essential. The fact is if you don’t take charge of your life many others will try to co-opt you for their purposes. And they will use almost anything to do this.

The question used to be ‘do you work to live, or do you live to work?’ I would like to rephrase the thought just a little bit. Are we working to fulfill our dreams, or someone else’s?

We all need to live. And to exist in our economy, we must work. Even those with money must work not to lose it. And although we would all like to work for ourselves, it is not always realistic or feasible. Remember, no one comes up with an idea and automatically starts at the top of the heap. A great friend reminded me yesterday that the only people who start at the top are ditch diggers.

The best of ideas still requires support and funding. Many of the Impressionist painters whose works are worth tens of millions of dollars each today, had to have paying jobs working elsewhere so that they could live while they were painting them. Van Gogh whose works sell for hundreds of millions today, only sold one painting while he was alive for I believe about 150 francs.

If you have a good idea and are building a business, figure you’re income chart is going to be flying near the surface for 2 to 3 years and then you’ll see that curves start to accelerate up. And to make that climb happen there many parts of the business you will be feverishly working for those years until the success starts to pour in.

Remember it’s your business, and I am willing to bet you love the idea, or else you would not be working at selling your goods. Remember though, there is no vacation, no time off, no sick days and if any of these occur, the business work does not get accomplished. Because when you start, you are usually a one-person shop, mainly because you haven’t earned enough money yet to hire help. I am not telling you this to cause you apprehension, just to prepare you.

If you don’t give up and don’t give out, and if you have an idea that resonates with the public and can get the people to come and look at your venture, in time you just might make it. You need to keep your faith in yourself and your product and work harder than you’ve worked for anyone else. And there’s one more ingredient. Luck plays a part in all of this. I call it serendipity.

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Author: Mike Balof

A retired Air Force Master Sergeant, Mike used to lay in bed at night and worry about what would happen if his plant closed or found himself without a job. One day his plant closed. Rather than panic and hysteria (OK, maybe a little) Mike found himself carried away on the adventure of his life. Mike started with the best job he ever had working at Home Depot. He spent 8 years working with job seekers at a local workforce center, helping them to find employment. He then started his own company developing courses, writing books and urging others to follow their own paths into the future. Mike holds a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training and a Bachelor of Business Management, earned through the University of Phoenix and an AAS degree in Electronics Systems Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. Mike is a member of the Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society. View all posts by Mike Balof