Courage

Here is a sampling of some of my favorite quotes on courage:

·         Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.  ~Raymond Lindquist

·         When we are afraid we ought not to occupy ourselves with endeavoring to prove that there is no danger, but in strengthening ourselves to go on in spite of the danger.  ~Mark Rutherford

·         Courage is tiny pieces of fear all glued together.  ~Terri Guillemets

I’ve been thinking a lot about courage lately.  So much has been happening in my life lately that most would say I have every right to curl up in a corner somewhere.  Instead I’ve been pushing myself to seek answers, to explore my options, to look beyond myself and see a new future full of possibilities.  Let me tell you it’s pretty scary to step away from the familiar, stepping into the unknown.  So many questions rampage across my mind –

·         What happens if I fail?

·         What happens if I fail?

·         What happens if I fail?

Ok – so they are really all the same question, but what a huge question it is.  So, what will happen if I fail?  I tell myself, who cares?  Maybe, just maybe I won’t fail.  Maybe I’ll find that my every dream comes true, that I’ll not walk away from all of this, but rather I’ll walk thru all of this, coming out on the other side a much better and stronger person.

Yes, I’m scared out of my mind most of the time.  Yes, I’m scared that I’ll be alone, be stuck in a dead end job, go nowhere, be no one, do nothing.  But, I also know that I can change my future.  I have control over my own destiny.  If I’m stuck, it will be no one else’s fault but my own for not trying.  So I walk into the unknown armed only with my courage and a few good friends.  Wish me luck.

There is always time to achieve your goals

I am constantly amazed at how clueless many in management are about what it takes to really get ahead in business.  For example, my boss has talked for months about wanting to promote our department, to be a profit center.  I work in Quality Assurance creating training materials for our customers.  It would seem obvious to me that we could become a major asset to the company by offering value through the efforts that we are already making each day.  Upon mentioning my thoughts on our own webpage where we could offer value in the form of ideas, suggestions, and information my boss informed me that we don’t have the time to do that. 

Not have the time?  How is that even possible when the boss’s desire is to promote her department?  Her thoughts were simply to place our training material on the webpage and offer it for a price – thus generating revenue.  My question is why would any of our customers even care to look at our webpage?  What is in it for them?  By offering value in the form of helpful “free” information we can begin to draw customers to our page where of course they will see what product we offer for sale.  This provides multiple opportunities for a sale as customers begin to check out the page on a regular basis for additional helpful information and then realize that, yes, they really do need additional training manuals, or would love to purchase additional webinar training.  But to get to this point it will take some effort to put together the content. 

Just as you can’t enjoy the delights of a pumpkin pie without taking the time to bake it (or at least buy it), you can’t enjoy the benefits of being a profit center without putting together value that draws in the customers for repeat purchases.