This week I went back to reading Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. He was struck that almost all the executives he interviewed used the same phrase, observing that “Just in the last couple of years” they had been able to do things they had never dreamed possible before or that they were being forced to do things they had never dreamed necessary before. Of course, this got me to thinking about our lives, too. We all remember the birthday decorations for “50″ as being over the hill or graveyard stuff. Maybe some of us even bought into it that the best part of our lives was over when we got that mailer from AARP. Now that we are “after 55,” we know the truth. Life has never been better nor offered us more opportunity.
Let’s talk about it. What have you done or been forced to do over the past couple of years for your business (Let’s not get into personal life stuff because we could probably all write volumes.) that would meet Tom Friedman’s criteria? What did you learn? I can’t wait to read your responses.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 7:30 am and is filed under HR, Marketing, Technology, Personal Growth, Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.One Response to “In Just the Last Two Years…”
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February 6th, 2008 at 8:19 am
In a way, my answer also relates to your earlier question about how to keep motivated. Thinking back on all I’ve learned during the course of starting this business is how I keep motivated. How to write a “real” business plan, how to take photographs, how to build a website, understanding NY sales tax laws, how to find wholesalers, how to navigate fancy food shows and gift shows, how to make a cold call, and most importantly, how to book a UPS pick-up online without tearing my hair out. I think about all this and conclude that, even if the business fails, I’ll walk away with more knowledge than I ever gained working for someone else. And there’s so much more to learn!