This has to be one of the silliest business myths out there. I believe that almost nothing comes to those who wait.
A better saying is “don’t wait for your boat to come in, you need to swim out to it.” Or as I say at the end of every radio show: “Love everyone, trust a few, and paddle your own canoe.”
Most of the momentum that happens in small business is because of an action that is taken. This does not mean that you can bend the market to your will or make it do what your company wants, but instead it is about looking at what customers are saying and being proactive in the actions you take as a result.
The smart small business owner puts together a plan, executes it to the best of their ability and then measures the outcomes. They the base the next set of actions on the previous set of results. This does not mean that being successful does not require a lot of patience and taking a longer view of the market. In fact, too many small business owners are impatient for immediate gratification that includes financial success.
While some of the American dream is to work hard and achieve something from nothing, a bigger part of the fantasy is to try to find a short cut that gets you success right away. Remember that unfortunately, most overnight success takes 7 to 10 years to achieve! So the small business owner is a strange combination of being a doer and at the same time being patient enough to track the outcomes over an extended period of time.
The best path is formulating a plan and evaluating the results. Then revise that plan and take new actions.
Each action gives the small business owner a new chance at success.
