Not Always Pretty

I like to share beautiful pictures of hikes and fly fishing trips curated to show the true beauty of the places I've been. The title picture to this article is the flip side of that. I took this picture because I like that tree. I find this trail in Falcon Co. convenient when I don't want to take the time or simply don't have the time to travel to my favorite trail in Black Forest and I just need to put in a few miles. You can see from the picture that the trail runs beside a highway and really doesn't have the scenic beauty of other trails I use, but you can also see that it just keeps going. The trail is nine miles of conveniently located and well traveled path that is magnificently utilitarian.

I share this as an analogy for life and specifically for the life of an entrepreneur. The road to success is not always pretty and filled with champagne toasts and balloons but, if we stop long enough to look around, we'll find the beauty in the journey just as captivating as those celebratory stops along the way.

There are many things we must do to market our businesses and retain our loyal fans that aren't all that hard, just monotonous. Many of us, myself included, would rather think up the idea and hand it off to our minions to make real. The problem is, most of us, once again, myself included, don't have minions and don't necessarily want them. So, until you're willing to hire a VA or a full time assistant, learn to find the beauty in the mundane tasks that keep your business moving forward.

I think it is beneficial to do a little manual labor now and then, whether you volunteer, do labor for cash or just help someone out, I do think the contrast is valuable. Making a living with your mind is magnificent and represents an amazing lifestyle that allows us to stop trading our time for money and reach an amazing number of people, but we can get lost in the reality distortion of thinking that we are somehow above physical labor and, sadly, lose sight of the humanity of those who make manual labor a career. Experiencing first hand what it's like to do some hard manual labor makes it so much easier to do the mundane things required of us in our businesses. A little perspective goes a long way.

I hope you have an amazing week!!