My firm, The World Advisory Company, was fortunate enough to participate as a sponsor and had an exhibitor table on display. Throughout the duration of the event, I met dozens of friendly people. Many of which were small business owners, which is the community that my company aims to help and bring together. It was great getting to hear about their projects and coordinating how we can potentially work together in the future.
One of the highlights of the day was my speaking opportunity. As Lucy was planning the event, she generously reached out to me and offered me the chance to speak. Having just hosted the Small Business Expo of Washington, D.C., I am familiar to this community and it was a perfect match.
I decided beforehand that I did not want to be too scripted as I spoke. I wanted to speak from the heart and actually believe in what I was sharing with the small business community. As I met people at the event, I realized that there were many employed professionals in addition to the business owners so I tweaked the target audience in my efforts a bit.
My goal was to share some of the lessons that I have learned throughout my time starting a successful company and helping dozens of other companies become successful. I started with an introduction of myself and my company and then I went on to enlighten the crowd on The 3 Key Ingredients for Success. I went through it in my head a few times before, but mostly created this concept on the spot speaking from my true experiences. So in a basic summary, here they are.
The 3 Key Ingredients for Success
1) Vision
In order to really accomplish anything, you have to be able to see it happening. In order to become successful, you have to see yourself successful. As far as your life, you must paint a picture of what success means to you, whether it’s on a global scale or in your local community. The more clear this picture becomes, the more it turns into tangible and achievable goals. Once they turn into goals, you now have a road map as to how to attain success. In the end, there is nobody to blame, but yourself for achieving those goals and it’s up to you to make it happen.
2) Determination
Once you have set goals and know what you’re working to accomplish, you have to do whatever it takes to make it happen. This means working harder than you ever imagined you could. You have to work as hard as you possibly can and then work ten times harder. There are no shortcuts to success and you will most certainly have to put in the time. You will find that as you work hard, it becomes very rewarding, not only in your professional aspirations, but it carries into your personal life as well. Your relationships with friends and family will improve and your overall health will improve as well. Be careful not to overwork and get burnt out though. There is a balance and you must maintain it to stay efficient.
3) Perseverance
Along your journey to success, you will need more than a clear vision and working hard. You will, without a doubt, be knocked down and discouraged. It is only natural that there are negative influences in life, unfavorable circumstances and challenging obstacles. They will get in your way and you will be tempted to give in. Every successful person is full of stories of failure. The only true way to learn is from failure and picking yourself back up. However, sometimes it’s not wise to continue a specific path if it does not have real potential. In this scenario, this doesn’t mean you have to completely start over from scratch, but rather tweak your approach. There is a saying, “Just because you have a rat problem does not mean you have to burn down the whole house.” Learn from your failures and never give up on your life long journey to success.
So that was basically what I had to share with the people of this event. It was well received and I hope that they really listened and took it to heart. I believe that with these three simple concepts, one can achieve anything in life.
This definitely has worked for me and helped me get to where I am now. I will continue to use these guidelines along my journey and will be expanding upon them as time progresses. That is all for now. I hope you enjoyed this!
For more articles and to learn more about the author, you can visit the personal site of Alexander H. Johnstone