I was sitting at a small coffee shop recently, and had a revelation. As I was sitting there working, I heard a conversation going on at the counter. I quickly determined that one guy was the owner. He was extremely friendly to everyone, but the part that struck me was the way he went on and on about the new things coming to his shop. He talked about how the new addition of soup was going so well, and how he just found this great new flavor (cream of tomato if you care), then he went to talk about the new truffles they would soon be bringing in. He was so excited about all these little things and he couldn’t wait to tell anyone that would listen.While I noticed that a lot of the people he told this stuff to half listened or feigned interest in the vain of courtesy, occasionally someone else would say… “I could really go for a truffle right now”… or something else.
Well, this really struck a chord with me. Here was a small business owner truly excited about what he was doing. He loved it, and loved to tell anyone that would listen. It made me take a second look at my own attitude to my new business. For example, when I meet someone new and the conversation goes to “what do you for a living”… I always reply with software consulting, and kind of down play it. I just came to the conclusion today that I design and sell software for small to midsized businesses using SAP. I consult to pay the bills (for now), but it’s temporary. Until I have the mindset that I’m in the software business, not the consulting business, how can I ever get there.
Listening to owner today, really made me stop and look at my own interactions with people. In general, I tend to take the approach that I don’t want to bore someone with what I do. Because of this, I don’t expand on my ideas, I don’t get excited, and worst of all, I don’t reinforce that dream in my own head. All because I project onto others that they might be bored hearing about what I do. So, my new goal is to shift my own mindset. Be excited about my software business, introduce myself as a designer and seller of software. People can make up their own mind if they want to listen to me… but until I can start to get as excited as Frank and his truffles, my chances of success won’t increase each day.
So, with that, I hope you are living your dream. I hope you’re excited about what you’re doing right now or are trying to do in the future. The more excited you are, the better chance you can make someone else excited about your dream.
Thanks for reading,
As always, thanks for reading and don't forget to check out our SAP Service Management Products at my other company JaveLLin Solutions,Mike