Networking and Success
For many years, I hold the belief that people are the catalysts to their success. I believe this can be achieved through networking with successful people, accepting yourself, having positive thinking, and inventing a formula for happiness. My story begins on the hot July day of 2017 in the small town of Yorkville. As a 24-year-old man, I decided to open a juice business, while still in school. Although I was doing the juice business, I was also interested in playing soccer. My idea was to start something that could help pay my fee since I come from a low-income family. Years later, I found a girlfriend who had an interest in the juice industry. The business started to deteriorate when I had prolonged practice sessions. Things worsened when I had to represent my school for a soccer tournament in another school miles away. On the other hand, I did not believe my girlfriend could handle the business.
Learning from Successful People
At the end of the tournament, and I was in a battle to revive the business. It is during this time that my girlfriend advised I be attending talks about successful people in the business. There, I learned that starting a business is a daunting undertaking. Although many people start businesses, only a fraction succeed and I was no exception. After socializing with many successful people in the business, I realized that I failed because of many reasons: I implemented the same business model as others in the same industry, I did not give the business my time, or maybe I had another interest. Networking not only plays a vital role in success in today's life but also helps people find solutions to the problems they face on a daily basis. Since networking involves sharing information about certain important things, it creates awareness.
Embracing Change Through Acceptance
I realized my business was facing a challenge in adapting to change. As an entrepreneur, I was also supposed to survive the change in circumstances. As a way to revive the business, I explored the potential of acceptance, although I knew it was a powerful force to change. Part of the problem, it is evident that the word “acceptance” has different meanings to people. Many people believe that learning acceptance is accepting failure. This makes them resist change strenuously. Ironically, such people wrestle with the same problems for years without solutions. But, in my opinion, acceptance has nothing to do with failure.
Teamwork as a Catalyst for Success
On the contrary, I view it as a springboard for a positive change. According to me, I had to reinvent the way I pursued the business if I was to transform it. I let my girlfriend run the business since I was also involved in the soccer activities. A great idea is not enough, and I needed to embrace teamwork. I considered myself lucky to work with someone I can trust. Shortly, after that, the business started doing well.
The Importance of Teamwork in Business
It is clear to me that teamwork is vital in business. There is a variation of skills brought about by more people working together. Different individuals bring with them different skills of expertise. An institution that does not support teamwork lags behind and cannot compete in the world market. Hence, each person becomes a catalyst to the success of another as well as the organization, since there is an existing relationship between employee’s growth and the company’s growth.
Facing Challenges and Staying Committed
No path is always smooth. There are ups and downs in every life situation, and my belief is no exception. As much as I have tried to discuss the importance of what I feel to be one of my greatest ideology, there are some experiences I have faced that made me start to question my belief. When the business was on the verge of collapsing, I started questioning myself whether to give up or assign all duties to my girlfriend. But once we sat together as a team and came up with the best possible solution regarding the issue, everything went back to normal and business, as usual, continued to grow.
Resolving Conflicts and Putting Goals First
Among the possible problems that we came across in our discussion was; who was to be in charge of the business. Competition, as we all know, is necessary and healthy in our lives. But, to my partner, this was too much, and it was almost destroying the business morale. At first, each one of us wanted to be seen as the head of the business. It started to spread distrust among us, as a result, made us not to accomplish most of the tasks required in the business. We resolved it by allowing my partner lead the business. Self-centeredness was another issue that came across. I started to care for myself at the expense of the company. It was a hard thing letting someone lead a business I started from scratch. Luckily, we decided to put aside our interests and focus on the goals and objectives of the business. Overall, one should be willing to associate with other people and accept status, to be successful.
