Sunday, May 17, 2009

Take a chance

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

The words of Teddy Roosevelt.

I came across these words while I was visiting Acton for a Austin Entrepreneur Network start-up class for High Growth Businesses. I guess you can say what every entreprneur wants but statistically few achieve.

But then again to do amazing things, you gotta take amazing risks and become an amazing person. If it were easy, amazing would be ordinary. But its not, its those that decide to burn the ships to prevent all means of retreat when battling a challenge that do amazing things.

How many companies built during difficult economic times have went on to grow and prosper to amazing success? Too many to mention.

But most importantly, why is it that these individuals who no smarter than any of us, to an extent that is, decide to put it all on the line and go for it? Its an innate punch in your stomach that says, Run with it and see where it goes. It happens to everyone that chooses to create their own path any way possible.

I recently got that punch in my gut a few months ago that just said, "Run with it and see where it goes."

The final blow came when one of my two managers at the bank branch I worked at had asked me how what I did with my time in volunteering to teach 6th graders financial literacy through the Wells Fargo Hands on Banking program helped my bottom line. I was knocked backed into reality and decided that I did not want to have anything to do with this ridiculously messed up banking world. Luckily, I had been training to take the leap into full fledged entrepreneur and thats what this blog is in part to be intended for, to tell my entrepreneurial journey as it develops.

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