WHAT IS YOUR STARTING POINT?

I just love stories about entrepreneurial endeavors; especially if they start like this: “So, it was Kenny T, Big Mike and I. We wanted to start our own company. We needed 2000$ to get started, but since we had no money, we maxed out 5 credit cards and borrowed the last 200$ from Kenny T’s granny. We lived in my parents garage, took turns sleeping on an old futon, ate rice and beans and whatever samples they handed out at COSTCO. We were young and dumb, but we had a dream”. Every single time, I pull up a chair and lean in. I should be more interested in the outcome of that story, but I’m really not.                   I am totally enamored with the process, the journey, the nitty-gritty. So you took 3 million dollars and invested in some start-up and now you are a gezillionaire, blah, blah, blah. No! I want you to go way back into the DNA of the story. I want to hear about how you cornered the painted-rock-market, when you were 5 years old. All the other kids started selling painted rocks, but then you started gluing yarn on yours, and you dominated the market again. Tell me that you rented out your comic books and charged your friends to get a peek at your dad’s playboy magazines.

I have read and heard many stories about entrepreneurship. Some impressive, some funny and many unbelievable . However impressive, there is one that will forever be my favorite: About 13 years ago, I were driving to work one day. In a vacant lot, next to the on-ramp to the freeway, I saw a parked minivan. Next to it was a woman in a lawn chair and in front of her, she had ONE plant. I remember thinking: “Hmm, seems like a lot of effort to sell one plant. What is she going to make? 10 bucks maybe”. Driving to work, the next day, there she was again; minivan, lawn chair and TWO plants.  My mind wasn’t blown, but I were starting to get the picture. So it went on, day after day, every day more and more plants. By the end of the week; still minivan, lawn chair, but at this point, something that resembled a small nursery. Plants, flowers and even small trees.                                            In the past 13 years, not a week has gone by without thinking about this lady. Did she spend her last 4$ to buy the first plant? What compelled her to do it? Did her son need money for prom pictures? Did she need money for going to the doctor? Did her husband lose his job and they needed rent money? Regardless the story or reason, she impressed me. She needed something and she found a way to get it. She swallowed her pride, did what she had to do, with what she had.

This story is such a good example of the power of goal setting and the willingness to start where you are at. What if we replicated this model, in all areas of our lives? What if we are willing to make that first push-up, save that first dollar, learn that first word in Chinese, spend that extra time with your kids; then lather, rinse and repeat, over and over again.

I never saw that lady again. I hope, that the plant selling experience gave her the mental muscle memory to transfer into a million new adventures. Her starting point was a minivan, lawn chair and ONE plant. What is yours?