Labor Day weekend is past … but no rest for the San Antonio business owner, right?
Sure, you may have taken some time off on Monday, but chances are (if you’re anything like me, or most of my business owner clients), it can be hard to take a “vacation” from your family’s livelihood.
We’re headed into a busy period before the deadlines on 9/15 and 10/15 for our various clients on extension and filing under corporate status, and then we start gearing up for our busiest season of the year after the holidays.
When I think about all this, I like to look back on all that we’ve gone through to build this firm — the initial struggles, the inch-by-inch fight for clients. And beginning to establish our business as one of the most-trusted firms in the San Antonio local area.
But I also know how easy it would have been to quit during those days.
And it’s true — one of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.
Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another. And thanks to Napoleon Hill, we have a cautionary tale to go by…
Why Overnight Success Is Not An Overnight Process For San Antonio Businesses
“If fear is cultivated it will become stronger, if faith is cultivated it will achieve mastery.” -John Paul Jonesy
An uncle of R. U. Darby was caught by the “gold fever” in the gold rush days, and went west to “dig and grow rich”. He had never heard that more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from the earth.
He staked a claim and went to work with pick and shovel. The going was hard, but his lust for gold was definite.
After weeks of labor, he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore. He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. Quietly, he covered up the mine, retraced his footsteps to his home in Williamsburg, Maryland, told his relatives and a few neighbors of the “strike.” They got together money for the needed machinery, had it shipped. The uncle and Darby went back to work the mine.
The first car of ore was mined, and shipped to a smelter. The returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado. A few more cars of that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big killing in profits.
Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then something happened… The vein of gold ore disappeared. They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there. They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again — all to no avail.
Finally, they decided to QUIT. They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home.
Some “junk men” are dumb, but not this one. He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer advised that the project had failed, because the owners were not familiar with fault lines. His calculations showed that the vein would be found just three feet from where the Darby’s stopped drilling. And that is exactly where it was found.
The “junk” man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew enough to seek expert counsel before giving up. Most of the money which went into the machinery was procured through the efforts of R. U. Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives and neighbors, because of their faith in him.
And he did pay back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so. (The above story is from the classic book, “Think & Grow Rich”.)
Business is like mining. You make small course corrections along the way. You seek advice and counsel through your partners along the way. And you never, ever give up.
Persistence, desire and your personal “WHY” will keep you moving towards your goal. Keeping in mind one of my favorite statements:
Overnight success is usually 20 years in the making.
I’m grateful for our chance to serve you and your business — and we are dedicated to its success. Even if it takes longer than you expected.
Feel very free forward this article to a San Antonio business associate or client you know who could benefit from our assistance — or simply send them our way? While these particular articles usually relate to business strategy, as you know, we specialize in tax preparation and planning for San Antonio families and business owners. And we always make room for referrals from trusted sources like you.
Warmly,
Sherry Tolbert
(210) 905-4498
Tolbert CPA LLC
