Starting a new business is never easy. Thousands of thoughts, fears, desires, doubts, hopes all tumbled around in my head like clothes in the dryer. I want to, but should I? Can I? Will I fail? Will I succeed? Will I stick with it? On and on the questions churned.
All of us are tenacious to one degree or another. Look at a 2 year old, they can convince adults 5 times their size they need a cookie, don’t need a nap and will throw a tantrum longer than you can stand watching them until you give in. See what I mean? We all still have that same ability to do whatever it takes to get whatever we want. We must persevere, persist and never give up. That is what I decided 23 years ago. I wanted to stay home to raise my 5 kids yet I also wanted a career of my own to contribute to our household.
Once I decided, the hard part was to decide every day to do the work. I heard someone say, “Setting a goal is a commitment that lasts long after the emotion has past”. It wasn’t easy,
I worked long hours, I sacrificed a lot of free time, I gave up fun things I wanted to do in order to do the things I had to do. Sometimes I envied others who didn’t have to grind like I did, but staying on task, with the determination to reach my goals, was always in front of my face. Another thing that really helped, was sharing with my kids exactly what I wanted to accomplish. Do you think I could dare stop running for the prize after telling them? Being accountable, especially to my family, made a huge difference in my work ethic.
One day, I had an extremely discouraging day. It almost did me in. To add insult to injury, someone near and dear to me at the time said, “Yah, what you’re doing is really hard, why don’t you quit?” Now I can’t even explain all the feelings that question evoked, like a sudden whirlwind of all sorts of thoughts conjured up inside me. Me, quit? What? You mean after all the dreams I have to succeed, the goals I still have to achieve, the hopes and plans for my kids, the passion to help others, the desire to work from home around my family, and on and on it went with in literally 2 seconds! I guess I could’ve given in to their suggestion but instead of dissuading me, it actually had the opposite effect. Those very words gave me a resolve like nothing before! That was the best thing anyone could’ve ever said to me. That was the moment of no turning back, quitting would never be in my vocabulary, no matter what happened, good or bad, I was sticking with it until I reached my goals. I decided it didn’t matter how long it took, how hard it would be, how many tears I cried, how many disappointments I experienced, I was all in, ALL in!
Over all these years, I have learned so much, not necessarily business facts or selling techniques, not only working diligently and consistently, but about self-development. I have to constantly work on me, being the best me God intended. I am genuinely interested in others, looking for any and all ways to help others and putting others first will always bring success. Its building relationships to give of myself, my time and listen hard to understand who others are in addition to what needs they have that I may be able to assist. Perfecting those people skills takes lots of practice, lots of time, lots of books, all the while pursuing my deepest passions of helping others. And of course, I will never quit. (It’s not in my vocabulary.)
God Bless,
Terry Lynn O’Neill
*LOVE ONE ANOTHER*
- Why Don’t You Quit - August 20, 2019
- My Mom - April 16, 2019
- That Day - March 6, 2019