Keep Chasing the Ball!

Persistence is one of those little mentioned qualities that adds so much to one’s ability to succeed in business.  We often hear about doing seminars, networking, writing, speaking and so on, as great ways to get your name out there.  But know one tells you that you have to do those things over and over and over and over again to finally reach success.  Persistence is one of the primary things that will get you noticed.  Why, because persistence means that you might be the last guy standing when someone needs your services.

Let me give you an example of persistence that gets the point across.  We are “dog-sitting” a little grey schnoodle who has been teaching us a lesson in persistence.  You see we have three dogs of our own who are always vying for our attention, and sometimes they get it and sometimes they don’t.  But this guy gets it every waking moment.  Why, because he came with a little red ball that he chases incessently.  He will bring it to you and you must throw it or he will poke you, prod you, grown and jump until the little red ball goes flying through the air for him to chase.  He love the ball.  And when we tire of this behavior we put the ball away, he will sit and stare at the ball until someone brings it down again.  He gets up in the morning and sits and stares at the ball until one of us brings it down and throws it.

Now our dogs love to chase balls too, but if we are busy and say no, they simply drop the ball and go lie down or pick a chew toy and happily chew or even better they find a sunny spot on the floor and just sleep.  Good for us, but they rarely chase balls.

But our little visitor chases balls all day long, why, because he refuses NOT to chase balls.  For him there is no other activity, but ball chasing.  So who do you think gets to chase the ball.  You guessed it!  The guy who persistently reminds us that ball chasing is a noble activity that everyone should engage in.

So how long have you been chasing your goals?  Have you told everyone you know about what you are trying to achieve?  Have you talked with everyone you know about the value you can bring to them with your product or service?

Summer time for many business owners can be very slow.  My business often slows in the summer, and that is when it is just hard to keep focused on your goals and plans for your business.  Discouragement can set in and deflate your plans for your business.  Don’t let that happen.  It has been said that the difference between a successful and unsuccessful person is that the successful person just hung in there longer.  Be successful, and hang on just a little longer.  Now if you will excuse me, I have a little red ball to throw!