I’m not going to lie to you, becoming an Entrepreneur is hard work. Making ends meet isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do and sometimes it feels easier to just give it all up than carrying on.
Yet even when things don’t seem to be going well, you have to keep going, knuckle down and keep working hard. Persistence is without any doubts one of the most important keys to success. At times people look at how you’re doing and tell you that you’re wasting your time. Others want to offer you their wisdom and show you a better way of doing things.
I assure you there is always going to be people who will tell you that what you’re trying to do can’t be done, or your idea isn’t going to work. But what they think or say isn’t what’s important, your beliefs are what count.
I don’t deny it can be daunting task trying to build an internet business at first and at times it felt like we were trying to push up a really steep hill. There were many times where I told myself that I should just quit the whole “internet” thing, but I’m NOT a quitter so I kept forging ahead.
I pushed myself forward, adapting things, trying things, never being frightened to try out new things. I was lucky I was supported all the way by Neil, my business partner, best friend and the guy who has been by my side for the last three years.
Throughout my life the one constant that has been with me throughout my journey has been my continual constant belief in myself, the things I’m doing and my dreams. Even though the path I have taken has seen many twists and turns, equalled only by the ups and downs, I have never lost faith in my ultimate success and the achievement of my long term goals.
Commitment and discipline hold things together. You may have a dream, with a vivid clarity of vision, but unless you are willing to commit, achieving the goal will remain impossible. You must always remember one thing – whatever idea, ambition, aspirations or goals you have it is absolutely crucial that you keep following through.
The last 6 months have been the strangest yet. It seems at times that I am on an escalator heading straight for my targets which is being part controlled by me but in part by another, dare I say a higher power.
The month of March was the most incredible example of this. Neil and I came to the realisation that we could no longer be work from home entrepreneurs. For a start both our houses were beginning to get overrun by our computer equipment, and dining tables had now become large desks. Worse still rooms were being filled with the products we were selling from our ecommerce shops. It was alright in the beginning when we were selling maybe a few products a day, manageable when it got to around 5 daily, but now when between 10 to 20 products were being purchased from us on a daily basis the stock we were holding was of a sizeable amount. Then there was the packaging we needed to send our customers their purchases, so boxes, brown paper, labelling and tape were everywhere. So we were living in a bit of a chaotic state.
Then there was the fact that we were no longer working side by side, at the same dining room table. We were operating from our own homes, so the time we got to spend together and brainstorm had reduced tremendously. One thing we both knew was that when we worked together we gelled so well constantly coming out with great ideas, we wanted to be back in that situation again. So the decision was made time to find an office.
It didn’t take too long before we found a perfect location. Really nice offices in a serviced centre only a few minutes from our home. It had fantastic facilities including meeting rooms, conference room, and as importantly fibre optic internet. We went to see it twice, chose the room that was perfect size for us allowing for expansion that we can see fast approaching requiring a few extra desks, and were ready to sign papers to get started. But then something happened.
A close friend of Neil on hearing that we were looking at offices mentioned a friend of his had an office to let. We decided there would be no harm in looking at it so arranged a viewing.
One of Neil’s dreams has always been to own a warehouse. Don’t ask me why, he’s a strange lad. But it has been something he has often talked about and the thought for some reason excites him. So there we were at the beginning of our viewing and the first room we saw was the warehouse with its shuttered entrance. I looked at Neil and burst out laughing. It was like seeing a child in a toy store. But I could also see the home for the products we are selling and the packaging area that we so badly needed.
We then found a brilliant large room, well lit the perfect size for what we were looking for and a separate room where I could create my videos and audios that I am so desperate to get back to on my blogs. The whole place was perfect. But the best was yet to come.
We met with the guy who was renting out this office. He took us into his area of business and as we walked through the door, both Neil and I exactly at the same time in tandem stopped to a dead halt in the doorway, looked ahead then at each other and grinned in a way where we both communicated that we had both seen a miracle. We were standing in an Aladdin’s cave designed with healthy lifestyle entrepreneurs in mind. We were looking at every conceivable type of sporting equipment you could imagine, together with fitness and workout equipment and supplements. This was a complete shock to us, and yet it immediately was so clear that destiny had played its hand. All our hard work, resilience and commitment had led us to this point.
We had already discovered the power of the internet for selling supplements. With our Proto-col Green Magic we were doing pretty well already, but we had only a week before been discussing that the time was now right to bring what we had learnt to our main site at www.healthylifestylesliving.com and build an ecommerce shop selling healthy living type products. We agreed that we would start looking at what products we could find. It seems we had no need to look, forces beyond our comprehension had delivered the answer.
I asked one question to our potential landlord. Had he considered using the internet as a way to reach more people and expand his market or had he already created an online presence. His answer was that he hadn’t done anything about it but had for a long time thought it was something he would love to do, but wouldn’t know where to start.
Within 24 hours the deal was set and now the three of us are working together to create an online sports, fitnesss and health shop on Healthy Lifestyles Living. This will be supported by a Member’s Area which will include our Energy for Living Program, Healthy Lifestyles Living Plan, Get Rid of Stress Program, The Power of Passion Do What You Love Course, Fat to Fit Exercise Program and many more over time. So if some of my followers are wondering where has Larry disappeared to, maybe you are getting the idea that I’m rather busy creating my dream work.
We moved in to our offices 2 weeks ago and have met already some amazing people, have had some fantastic meetings, and much has happened, I’ll save that for my next post.
Understand one thing, none of what is happening would be possible if we hadn’t followed our passions, and driven a business that we love. The money came to us, we didn’t start by finding something that had ‘make money fast’ labelled to it, we went with something that we loved to do and believed we could create a business around. The model we’ve put together which again I’ll talk more about in the future I believe is the big difference for us and would work for anyone and is what is making dreams a reality. But that’s all for now.
