It’s More About What You Do, Than What Happens To You

Life isn’t fair. Never was, never is, and never will be. Every one of us faces challenges, difficulties and obstacles on a daily basis. Some are more difficult than others, and some people have more than their share of trials.

But it’s not so much what happens to us, as it is how we handle those challenges. We have a choice. When things get us down we can lay their and do nothing, or we can take control, take actions, and get our strength back and get out of our predicament.

Right now, in these tough economic times, some people are doing very well financially and others are struggling to make ends meet, or perhaps wondering where the money is going to come from to pay the mortgage or to buy enough food to feed their kids their next meal. Some are being laid off from their jobs, and others are being promoted within their company, or being recruited away by another employer and offered substantial bonuses to defect.

It’s the same with businesses. Tough times for some are boom times for others. While some stores and shops are closing their doors, others are expanding their operations,  opening new locations, and hiring additional employees.

In our business of offering marketing and business development consulting services to businesses, we see it every day. Several times a week we get calls from business owners who are familiar with our company, or maybe have seen us on the Internet or in various media (radio, television, or print), and want to know if we can help them figure out how to help their businesses survive. Very often, they don’t have the funds to make payroll, pay the rent, or the utilities, let alone pay for consulting services. Their backs are up against the wall and they’re looking for solutions… cost-effective solutions that can produce FAST results and get them out from behind the eight ball.

Because I only work with a very limited number of high-level clients myself, we always refer these business owners to our onboard consultants. It’s always interesting to see some of the creative ways they work with a business that is financially strapped and doesn’t have enough money to pay a retainer fee. But what’s even more interesting is to see how quickly the strategies they introduce into their clients’ businesses begin producing additional profit dollars for them, and then hear the appreciative comments from those clients.

It’s a great feeling to know that we offer a service that helps so many people on so many levels. When a business is turned around and saved from financial ruin, it saves jobs for the business’s employees, the vendors and suppliers who provide products and services to that business, the landlord or mortgage company, insurance and utility companies and a host of other types of businesses and individuals that depend on income from the business.

A key player in that entire process is the person… the consultant… who “saved the day” for the business. Very often, this person is one who, just a few months earlier, was out of a job him or herself. Maybe they were laid off, downsized, cut out, or whatever term is in vogue today. Sometimes they are mid fifties six-figure earners with teenagers or college students to support, and can’t go back into the job market because they are “too old.” And if they could, it certainly wouldn’t be at the income level they were used to or that they require to sustain their current lifestyle.

It’s hard to express the feeling that I get when I see someone like I just described come through training, get some new skills, contact a handful of prospects, and land their first couple of clients. Their step is lighter, their pace quicker, and their confidence is at an all time high. They’re completely different people than they were when we first met. Once they get a little taste of success under their belts and they realize that they don’t have to depend on a “boss” or employer to tell them when to come to work, when they can go home, what to do on the job, how much they’re worth, and when (or IF) they can take time off for a holiday, vacation, or just to watch their kids’ ball games, it’s a whole new world for them.

This life is WAY to short to get all the things done that… well, at least that I want to get done. Just not enough time. And there certainly isn’t enough time for me to spend doing something that I don’t enjoy, that I don’t want to do, or that I have to do. I can’t answer for you or for anyone else. I just know that the older I get, the faster time goes. And every day I look back and think about how I spent my time… what I gained, what I might have lost, what kind of enjoyment I had, how I helped someone else, and how I grew as a person.

For me, it’s not about the money anymore. It’s about the value I can create for someone else. That’s why I do what I do. I absolutely help people who are ready to get out of doing the “have-to-do” things, and move into a world of “let’s-do-this!”

I have to be careful. Last year we conducted 14 of our 4-day TopLine Business Solutions consultant’s training events. We added 146 new consultants, and are now hitting right at 1,000 consultants operating in 34 countries around the world.

Why do I say I have to be careful?

‘Cause I worked my tail off! I worked WAY to hard last year. Yes, I enjoyed helping people go from broke (or nearly so) to mid six-figures, but I fried myself in the process. Won’t be that way this year. I’ll be spending more time with fewer people, and creating even bigger success stories than we’ve ever had before. And I’ll be taking more personal time for myself.

We’re getting ready to announce our next (and the first for this year) workshop that will be sometime in the first part of April. This will be open to a VERY limited number of people who are serious about achieving the most success possible in the shortest amount of time. We will be featuring them in our ads and in our media releases to help them get leverage, publicity, and exposure, and use that exposure to enhance their credibility. More information will be coming in the next week or so as the details are finalized.

In the meantime, be thinking about where you are in your job or career, and if you’re 100 percent satisfied. If you’re not, what do you need to do differently? What actions do you need to take to get on top of things and begin living life on YOUR terms, and not someone else’s, and not having to apologize to yourself or your family for not being able to give them everything you would like to.

Martin Howey
Founder and CEO
TopLine Business Solutions