March 2015 Publisher’s Column

 

Your One Thing - A Business Lesson from the Movie “City Slickers”

I love the scene in the movie “City Slickers” where Billy Crystal's character, Mitch, is alone with Curly who is played by Jack Palance.  Curly is giving Mitch some worldly advice that may just prove to be the greatest advice ever given for one’s self and business. 

Curly asks, “Do you know what the secret of life is?” Holding up one finger, Curly then answers, “This.” With a puzzled look on his face, Mitch asks, “Your finger?” Curly responds, “One thing; just one thing.  You stick to that and the rest don't mean s**t.” Mitch again asks, “But, what is the one thing?" Curly replies, “That's what you have to find out.” 

What's your one thing regarding you and your business? Let me go ahead and give you the answer. - It’s your WHY.  Why did you start your business?

Most of us started our business because we wanted that business to work for us versus the other way around.  We started that business with a dream and a belief that our business could get us to that dream as we serve others.

Zig Ziglar often said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want.”  But somehow on our way to that dream we lost focus on the WHY.  A business plan doesn’t mean a thing unless it is tied to our dreams.

So get out a piece of paper and write down your WHY and post it in as many places as possible so that it will serve as a constant reminder of why you started that business in the first place.  That is your one thing!

Our cover honorees this month are the Reyna-Lara-Torres families that make up the leadership of Impact Stone.  Joel Reyna started Impact Stone with a WHY that others thought would be impossible for him to ever achieve.  After working for several years for a granite fabricator and doing jobs on the side, Joel had saved up enough money to buy a small saw and gave his supervisor two weeks notice.  His supervisor told him that he didn’t speak English well enough, that he didn’t know enough about the business, and that he was not going to make it.  His coworkers also laughed at him when he told them that one day he would buy a machine like they had at his job that cost about $130,000. 

Four years later, the company that Joel had worked for had gone out of business.  Not only did he buy their machine at auction, he took over the location where the company had been, and also hired some of their employees!  Joel’s WHY has continued on to include the next generation in his family who have taken the helm.  They work alongside each other in harmony as they build a legacy for generations to come, all the while making an “impact” on so many lives. 

It is time to let you get started on this month’s inspiring and informative issue.

 

Good Reading, Good Sales, & Great Success to You,

 

Steve Levine

President/Executive Publisher – Small Business Today Magazine