The 7 Business Lessons I Learnt From Growing My First Lemon

Well who would have thought you could write a whole blog post, from growing your first lemon… well I did!

You see, I see lessons and deeper meanings in everything around me, even though this can often frustrate my husband and kids, it allows me to look into the situation and find something worthy of sharing with someone else. I believe that behind every lemon, is a great story.

So allow me to share…

About 18 months ago, it was advised that I invest in a lemon tree, to place in the back corner of my house to encourage abundance. Yes I had been ‘feng shui’d’! So, like a good student that engaged in the teachings of a Feng Shui expert Keri Norley, I did what I was told. We headed to the local bunnings and bought the cutest little lemon tree we could find and I sent my trusty husband out into the garden (you didn’t seriously think I was going to dig it in did you?) and told him where to plant it. And plant he did.

Then the weirdest thing happened! As he was watering it in, my phone rang on a Sunday and like every good entrepreneur, I didn’t want to answer it! But… I did…

A lady had been wanting to place an ad in YMag and had finally decided that she was ready and wanted to do it there and then. So I took all her details down and made a sale of nearly $400!

Well, as you can imagine, I opened the window of my office and yelled out to my husband…  KEEP WATERING THE LEMON TREE, IT’S WORKING ALREADY!!!

So over many months, nothing happened. Nothing at all.

The tree grew in size and often I would go out there and talk to it and tell it how lovely it’s green leaves looked, share stories of how big lemon trees could get when they reach their full potential and other kind words, that would hopefully make the tree realise it had more fruits to bare in this world. I was trying to let it know, that it’s purpose in life was to produce lemons. I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me, BUT, as it’s Mentor, I could see it’s potential and it was my role to share the vision of what I knew was possible.

The winds would come and I would watch my lemon tree blow around and then stand back up, stronger and taller than before. I would watch the tree smile in the sunshine and I swear I saw it, grow just a little bit one day!

My hubby, being more of a green thumb than me, nurtured the tree and the whole family knew that this was not the tree you plucked leaves from, or used in sling shot practice. Or dug the coins I had buried into the soil for tuck shop!

We then moved house and it was on the list to dig out and re-pot, but as you know when you move, there are a million things to do and our little lemon tree remained in the ground at the old house for a few days, until I remembered it. Yes sometimes we get busy and forget what’s important in life.

So as any good female entrepreneur, with nicely touched up shelac nails after moving house would do, I sent my trusty hubby around to the house to dig up the lemon tree!!

He returns to the house, with our lemon tree in a nice new pot and positions it in the same abundance corner of our home. And so the process continues.

Watering, spraying leaves with bug remover ‘stuff’, soil food and all the other things it takes to grow a lemon tree (must ask hubby one day).

But still nothing…

Just a tree that is now triple the size and it’s been just over a year and still nothing.. nothing… not even a bud of a lemon!!

At this point I think I’ve bought a dud (you know the feeling when you work hard for what seems like ages and you can’t see the results of your efforts yet and want to quit?). Maybe someone at bunnings was playing a practical joke and switched a non lemon tree, into the lemon tree aisle just to watch some crazy lady talk and nurture this tree through a hidden camera in one of the leaves to get likes on YouTube! (ok clearly, I watch to much Homeland!)

And then it happened.

To my excitement, my son comes in and tells me that we have a little hard green thing and my hopes are restored.

So I go back into the nurturing phase and nurture this little green hard thing (apologies to all those lemon tree experts, clearly I have no clue what it’s called) until it grows and grows and grows, however it’s still green.

Over what felt like months, it starting to change colour. It started to resemble a lemon. (Fellow entrepreneurs, you know this feeling right… the moment someone buys your product after months and months of slog in the back end to get it ready? Well this is how it felt).

My excitement grew every time I went out there (which let’s face it, isn’t often as that’s hubby’s domain) but needless to say, I sent it love from the kitchen window all the time.

And then the day came.
It was squishy.
It was yellow and it was ready.
And so I found out, I should have picked it weeks ago, as squishy is a sign it’s too late. (Another lesson for all of us, is are we waiting to long when we know we are ready?)

And pick it we did. My hubby and I went out in the cold at night and both twisted this lemon off the tree, like we were picking a rare diamond from a mine site and carried the lemon safely into the kitchen.

I was so excited. Hubby sat and read the paper, as let’s face it, he’s a guy and it’s a lemon!

I washed the skin properly and placed it on the board. Of course, first things first. I took a ‘lemon selfie’ and then proceeded to roll the lemon a little and then cut off a corner.

Wow, the juices were flowing and the taste was incredible! Fresh, sour, zesty and just like nothing I’ve tasted in a while. It was filled with lemon juice, but also lot’s of love and positive thoughts over the 18 months that it was growing.

So, what are the 7 Business Lessons I learnt from growing my first lemon you ask?

Well, here they are:

1. We all must have a vision of what’s possible in the future, even when we are just a small tree
2. We ALL need a Mentor. Someone who can see the future and show us what’s possible.
3. Just because we don’t see growth and changes, doesn’t mean they are not taking place
4. Sometimes when we lose faith and can’t see what our potential it is, we must surround ourselves with others who can
5. Good things take time. Success doesn’t happen overnight. Be patient, keep believing and one day, you will produce a lemon
6. Celebrate the small things in life. Yes this is just a lemon, but it’s a creation of nature and all small things should be celebrated
7. Enjoy the moment. Often we are so rushed, we don’t appreciate how long something has taken to come together.

So what are the next steps for our lemon you ask (well you may not have asked, but as this is my blog, I’m going to tell you). We want our lemon to reach it’s full potential, so tonight, we will be making fresh lemon margaritas!!!

So, I hope this story was both refreshing and zesty (all puns intended) and if life throws you lemons, make lemonade, or in my case… margaritas!

Celebrate the small wins and always find a deeper meaning to life’s gifts. Surround yourself with people who are as tangy as you and remember, some things take time. Stay focussed, surround yourself with a Mentor who can truly see that one day you can produce a lemon, as they have seen it happen before.

Have a juicy day and always live your life on purpose. Get every drop out of life that you can!

Shar
YWoman
Lemon Grower

About Shar Moore:

Shar is an International Gold Stevie Award winning Entrepreneur, in the ‘Women Helping Women’ Category, a National Award Winning Business Mentor, International Best Selling Author, Keynote Inspirational (and very funny) Speaker, Serial Entrepreneur.

Having gone ‘Broke to BMW in 18 Months‘ after the Queensland Floods, opening her own brand of 5 star Spa in the desert of Abu Dhabi, Shar knows what it takes to think out of the box. Her purpose in life, her Y is to open an Orphanage in Thailand for underprivileged young girls and this will open in 2017. Author of Your Life Your Purpose and ‘From Broke to BMW in 18 months’ Shar is a sought after keynote speaker, who truly has ‘real deal appeal’. www.sharmoore.com.au