Ideal Marketing Company Blog

What Would You Do With A Second Chance?
By Tim Knox

You could avoid the mistakes you previously made and build on
the successes you previously enjoyed.  You could nurture the
positive relationships and avoid the bad. You could tap into
your wealth of experience during times of indecision and always
know where and when your time and money would be best spent.

How many times have you said, “If I only knew then what I know
now?”

We’ve all wished that we could go back in time with our heads
full of knowledge and our belts busting with experience and do
it all over again.  The proverbial “second chance” is something
we’ve all wished for - some of us more than others. Imagine how
different our lives would be if we came equipped with unlimited
“do overs.”

You could avoid the mistakes you previously made and build on
the successes you previously enjoyed.  You could nurture the
positive relationships and avoid the bad. You could tap into
your wealth of experience during times of indecision and always
know where and when your time and money would be best spent.

Now apply that question to your business. What would you do if
you had the opportunity to build your business all over again,
but do so with the wisdom gained from building the business all
these past years?

If you could take the knowledge and experience gained from
years of running your business, as well as your credibility,
good name, and customer list, and start anew from square one
what would you do? Oh, and did I mention that you had a nice
check to fund it all this time so you won’t have to scrimp and
save and bootstrap your way back to the top?

Here’s why I’m posing this question: a few weeks ago a young
business here in Huntsville was destroyed by fire. It was a
devastating loss for the owners who could do nothing but stand
by and watch as years of hard work went up in flames.

The fire destroyed the building, some equipment and inventory.
The business was insured and the owners have already vowed to
rebuild, which means the fire did not destroy the business
itself, only the physical aspects of it.

Brick and mortar and inventory do not a business make. Brick
and mortar house the business.  Inventory brings the business
revenue, but the heart of the business – the spirit and soul and
purpose – lives inside the entrepreneur building that business.
If the entrepreneur survives and rebuilds, so survives the
business.

Starting over can be tough even with an insurance check to fund
it all, but I hope these entrepreneurs understand that this is
an opportunity to take the lessons learned over the last few
years and put them to work for the future. This is a chance to
do all the things they always talked about that they should have
done differently in the beginning.

So back to the original question: if you could go back and
rebuild your business knowing what you know now, with an
insurance check to fund it, what would you do differently and
what would you do the same?

Let me put it into perspective for you. Imagine building your
dream home and living in it for a few years until one day the
house is destroyed by fire. A devastating loss, no doubt, but no
one is injured and everything is insured.

You now have to make a decision; will you build the exact same
house or build a different house that takes into account all the
things you wanted to change about the old house.

Maybe after living there for a few years you discovered that
you should have put in a downstairs bathroom or added more
closet space in the master bedroom. Maybe the kitchen was too
small or the laundry room too large. Now you have the chance to
rebuild your dream home with all the lessons learned from years
of living in the house.

So to these entrepreneurs who are living this experience, I
encourage you to keep the faith and keep looking toward the
future. I understand that you felt completely helpless watching
that fire engulf the building. I know that you are now mourning
the business as if you’d lost a close friend. But please, keep
in mind that disaster gives rise to opportunity.

Rise from the ashes, become the Phoenix. Rebuild your business
into something truly amazing. We’ll all be with you as you do.

About the Author: Tim Knox Entrepreneur, Author “Check Out
Tim’s New Radio Show!” http://www.timknoxshow.com Preorder Tim’s
New Book: Everything I Know About Business I Learned From My
Mama http://www.timknox.com/amazon/

Source: http://www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=168684&ca=Business

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 8:17 am and is filed under Business Thoughts, Free Marketing Seminar, Goal Setting, Guest Blogs, Ideas & inspiration, Marketing Blog, Marketing Consultancy, Marketing Mentor. 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.