It’s pretty commonplace to hear a network/referral marketing professional talk about the big picture stuff that can happen when successfully building a business in the industry. The opportunity to make big money, drive fancy cars, own big houses, travel the world, yada yada yada.
There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s possible for anyone, and many people of all backgrounds and situations have made this happen, through all kinds of circumstances. The challenge with this though, can be the real life connection for someone who isn’t there yet and has difficulty envisioning this. In addition, there are lots of people who don’t value these things, so there is zero connection for them, and in many cases it becomes a turn-off because they interpret the business as being all about the money and the material things that are possible.
A few days ago, I was in Annapolis, and I took my daughter and her friend to breakfast at a well known place. There was a 20 minute wait for a table. It was late morning on a Sunday, and this being a popular place was packed. After about five minutes, I began wondering why I am waiting. Most people wouldn’t give this a second thought. They are used to waiting in lines for all kinds of things. The bank, the grocery store, the post office, traffic during rush hour, etc.
Why are they used to waiting in lines? Because when you work a traditional 9 to 5 day, you have specific windows of time when you can do these things, and it just so happens that this is the same time that all the other 9 to 5 workers have too.
I haven’t waited in many lines in the last 26 years
As a full time professional in the home-based world, I haven’t waited in many lines in the last 26 years. I go to all of these places when others are at work. It’s a little thing. Or is it? How many hours a week do people wait in a line? How many hours a week do they add to their commute because they have to do it when everyone else does? This is lost time.
This is lost time
Life is about time. Time with the people you love. Time invested in the things you care about. Time for yourself to grow and develop. Just think about the commute in the big picture. If you commute in rush hour, it takes at least a half hour longer to get where you are going if it is any appreciable distance. This is commonplace around the big cities. That would be a lost hour per day times five would be a lost five hours per week. In a year, working 50 weeks, that is a lost 250 hours. That is over 10 days.
10 DAYS that are just gone in a puff of smoke. In a 40 year career that is a lost 400 days. That is more than a Year! This is just considering the value of the lost additional time of a commute.
If you start compiling the lost 20 minutes each time in a grocery line, and 20 at the post office, etc. you can begin to see that this one little thing, can have a massive impact on what you get to participate in during life. It’s so important that we help other’s see what is really possible for them in their life, and little things speak large.
