Something Somehow Somewhere
Something Somehow Somewhere
Want to know how to really grow any business? It’s interesting in 1991 I was offered the opportunity of opening a larger hair salon. The first hair salon I had was just 250 square feet. This one was over 2,000 square feet it was going to be a large step into the unknown for me. I took the risk (it was a risk) and went for it. Within 18 months I had the number one salon in that small town of 125,000. That was number one out of 35 salons. Some of those salons had been there for well over 20 years! However, that’s not the only story I wanted to share with you.I wanted to share with you the fact that making it really happen in those salons was hard work… very hard work! I had left school at 15 years old. My first job was as a gardener. I had no qualifications of any kind. I did what most do. Go to work, get a job and get paid. That was it. That was Alan when I left school. So suddenly in 1991 just 11 years after leaving school I had to run, build, promote, market and make profitable my new 2000 square feet salon. Despite all the highs, lows, ups and downs it was a success… a huge success and I fell in love with my business.Now here’s the thing; a business to most new business people is like a child. They love, protect and nourish this new-born. When anything goes wrong they cry, they weep, the feels sadness. I was no different, I loved those salons. Without covering all of the detail right now (I will share it again soon) I lost $100,000 in cash… from that salon.At the end in 2003 I had to walk away one cold Thursday morning and lock the doors forever. Two things took place.1. ALL of my staff walked out. (due to an on-going lie and blackmail campaign from my landlord to against me to exhort $20,000 from me. The Police would not do anything)2. I had created a brand new, successful business online at this point I desperately wanted to pursue. When I walked away from those cash buyers because I had no staff, I felt sad and truly depleted but knew I was walking away to something that could easily be re-created at any point in the future. Yet all of it was hard. It could be grind. I was easily 24/7, it could easily take its toll on my and my health. It was worth it though, no question, I loved it at the time.Can I ask you though: would you easily walk away from $100,000 in notes? I did. Can I share the bigger reason for you? You have to understand though… I want to make this about strange phenomena I see globally. I would call it… The something, some-how, somewhere syndrome. Sadly there are people now all over the planet that will say to me when I am travelling and teaching. They say… Something is going to happen to me. I don’t know what but it is and it’ll make me a fortune. When I ask how they usually say … “Some-how…I am not sure but… somehow” I then ask where will this happen? The reply can be a little like… Note: you need to imagine and an intense smile across the face from the person responding! “Look I am not sure about anything. All I know is… something, some-how, somewhere will happen to me and it’s going to be big” THAT WAS TRUE!I really meet people like that all the time. Now here is what I have learnt from my own businesses. Here is something else I have learnt from watching others business. Here is what I know for a fact. To build a house is hard work. To build a wall takes strength and muscle. To build and empire means blood being poured. To build a Lego structure takes time and thought.In fact, anything that needs to be built… take time, thought and energy… lots of it. Yet there are people out there that have been taught by others that creating success is something that they can have if they think about it enough. Questionable?, I would say so. Yet there appears to be an almost evangelical movement of adamant followers that will propose to you or anyone willing to listen that thousands, millions or even billions are about to land on their laps!Can I share this with you? Blueprint, structure, research, hard work, planning, strategies, tactics, branding, usp, leverage, joint ventures and more are just a few words I would use to start with to describe success. Are they part of you work ethic? Do you have a plan written in stone? Can you map out every single step from start to finish? Do you know NOT ONLY your end result but every twist and turn along the way? Are you taking massive action to really make it happen for you? And back to my salon story above… can you, will you let go if you have to? Why do I say that? Sometimes you really have to let go to make a success. Can you imagine what my brain was saying at the point of walking away from $100 grand?There was a part of me that kept saying… “This is your baby, you can re-build this to get the $100k back, you can re-create all of it…” my mind was working overtime. I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t do anything to the point I was frozen to the spot. Can I share with you the one thing I had to do? It hurt doing it. It was painful doing it. I hated doing it. I had to do this one thing. I had to… LET GO…! Yes I had to let go of my baby, let go of 16 years of looking after, building, creating and nurturing my darling salon. It really hurt. But you know when I did let go, my life became new, fresh, exciting. Packed with new challenges, new directions. I created a plan. I stuck with it and changed it as I needed to go so I would get the results I really wanted. How about you then. Is your plan working? If not can you let go and move on? You know if it isn’t working… you can easily move on.Moving on can feel exciting, refreshing and energy packed. It’ll hurt but it’ll be worth it. And then… Something you planned will lead you and take you to a new place. Some-how in line with your plans you’ll see things, do things, achieve things you never even knew were possible for you.Somewhere along those paths, you’ll discover new, exciting, compelling parts of your life that have remained undercover maybe for decades. And you know what? It’s up to you. You create the life you desire. You can create the life you desire.Alan Forrest Smith
