Follow the Pidgeon. My new mantra!

Perseverance is key!

Great Chinese philosophers believed in looking at the world around them, at everyday things, to find solutions to the travails in life, to the challenges of the human spirit. The I Ching Oracle, which dates back 1000s of years uses the perfect balance of life, the Ying and the Yang in every situation, to predict the future and help the reader navigate life’s great journey.

The Fable of the Pidgeon - A modern tale of perserverance

So, I put up a bird table, hoping to attract more ornithological delights into the garden. It was well placed and hidden away slightly, to avoid the bigger birds nicking all the goodies from the little ones. (bear with me, I do have a point to all of this)

I have had the table up for a week now and I have observed a wonderful life lesson, courtesy of a big fat Pidgeon, that simply wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Day 1 - Our Pidgeon, (real picture above) came and cased the joint for a bit, looking for a way into the sweetie shop. No cigar!

Day 2 – Pidge came back with some fresh thinking and decided a flyby was necessary for a closer look. Still nothing…. Fort Knox for our Pidgeon.

Day 3 – Pidgeon upped the game and decided he needed to do something different. Pidgeon decided, it was a heist, a smash and grab that was required to get at the plentiful bounty. Head long into the trees he went but this hasty frustrated approach only served to get him tangled up and trapped, finally getting free with his beak between his legs.

(I genuinely at this stage didn’t think Id see our Pidgeon again. I thought she had tried everything and that the last episode would have persuaded her to finally give up. How wrong I was….)

Day 4. She turns up with the cutting gear. (Think Hatton Heist!) Pidgeon spends the next 2 hours, on and off, (with no look out I may add) coming back and snipping off the branches of the surrounding trees to make room to slip straight into the safe. It was a breakthrough.

Day 5 – The drilling continued, each hour, smashing another brick from the wall until finally, she could see the prize on the other side.

Day 6 – She eats. This morning, after 6 long, testing and head scratching days (Can Pidgeon’s scratch their heads?), Pidgeon sat down to feast. She scoffed and scoffed until his belly was full. His hard work, dedication and persistence paid off. Perseverance won!

Lessons from our Pidge!

So, what did I learn from my Pidgeon over the last few days?

As a business owner, competing for air time, profile and investment, I could relate to our Pidgeon’s plight. Its tough on those bird tables....

You know you have a great product, solution, innovation or idea that can make a difference but there are a lot of barriers to entry.

Building a brand from the floor up can be a hard slog and the early stages clunky and worrisome.

What have I done, this is a bad idea?

Why aren’t people bang our door down to be clients?

Why haven’t can I sold more, had more meetings, be doubling our turnover?

We have all been there…. but here is where the Fable of the Pidgeon gives us some hope and shows us the path we should follow:

1.    Day One - Market Research – Know your market, challenges and barriers

2.    Day Two – Field Research – Be out in your market, talking, looking and understanding closely your environment.

3.    Day Three – Marketing, Testing, Learning, selling – Time to take the plunge and dive in with client meetings and selling. The early stages could be ugly, with a few crash landings and mistakes made. Fail and fail fast. Move on.

4.    Day 4 – Refine, sharpen and laser focus – Learning quickly from the early set backs and barriers, we sharpen our tools and really go to business. We chip away and slowly break down the barriers until we can finally see the wood for the trees. We have sculpted an offer which people are engaging with and really talks to their problems and needs.

5.    Day 5 – We expand and build and grow with what we know. We have more confidence in ourselves and what we have to offer. The momentum is growing, and we know that we are on the path to success. We are laying the table…

6.    Day 6 – We have built a product, service, company, community or idea that is fulfilling its promise. We have great clients; our revenue is growing, and we are finally working on projects that we believe in and is making an impact. It is time to eat.

If only it was as easy as writing it down and watching it happen. If only the Pidgeon could have turned up on Day 1 and the bird table was open, easy to access and full of rich delights from the get-go.

So, I guess, we leave it here, the tale of the Pidgeon and its one great message, perseverance.

It may take months or years to grow your business, your idea, your community but the one thing that I hope you will now have in your back pocket is the Fable of the Pidgeon.

And, I guess your wondering what happened to Day 7?

We rested…and then did it all over again!