by Toby Nwazor, founder of www.mystartupceo.com
Let’s face it, the question of “how long before success” must have crossed your mind a couple of times in the past since you started thinking of starting a new business. You want someone to give you a guarantee that you will experience success after some a particular time frame.
You may have bought a couple of books on business success principles and even gone for one or two business seminars and trainings. Yet, one question remains unanswered.
You want to know how long you will grind before you finally hit that mark, right?
You wish someone can just come and tell you that you merely have to commit three months, and after that, BOOM. You are in Success-nation…
Relax, I know that feeling. I used to be there. In fact, in my own case, I gave it a year.
Let me explain.
When I started my first online business, I decided what success meant for me. I wanted influence, I wanted impact, and of course, I also wanted money. This means I set SMART goals and decided what I wanted to achieve in advance. I wasn’t guessing about it. I knew what I wanted.
Yes, success is relative. You must define what success means to you, so you don’t end up climbing the proverbial ladder of success, only to discover that it is leaning against the wrong wall.
Next step?
After defining what success means to me, I put a time frame to it. Yeah, any goal without a deadline is merely a wish. And in this world, wishers don’t get the crown.
Now here’s the tricky part. Sometimes, if not most times, the time frame you mapped out may not materialize. Yeah, sometimes, the goal you are pursuing may never come to pass at that time you stipulated.
Same thing happened to me too.
I decided that I would pursue my dream and invest my all into my online business for just one year. And if it doesn’t pay after one year, I will drop it, brush up my CV and start job hunting again.
So, for the first few months, I gave it all it took. I studied, read lots of articles and books, enrolled for classes and courses, subscribed to plenty newsletters, joined lots of forums, befriended lots of pro-bloggers so as to learn from them, and virtually grinded every day.
A few months later, I attended a program, and the speaker shared a story about how he started. After that program, I had a spring in my step.
I practically ran to my then business partner’s house and announced to him, “Guy, I am ready to give this business all it takes for as long as it will take.”
I made a decision that day that my online business was no longer going to be something try out for a few months to see if it would work.
That day was the day I decided not just to give it all it will take, but to give it all it will take, for as long as it will take.
Something changed in me that day. My enthusiasm and persistence literally caught fire.
If you have ever started a business or about to start one, you must have asked a similar question. You want to know how long it will take before you succeed, right?
Here’s my answer, “It will take as long as it has to take.”
Mine took me a total of nine months before I got my first paying client. Yours could be three months. Or it could be one day. Or maybe it could even be up to five years.
Well, it doesn’t matter anymore. Because if you really want that business to succeed, you must make a decision today that no matter how long, you will give it your best until you experience success.
You need to make that decision today. Are you going to make a commitment today to give your business all it will take for as long as it will take?
Think seriously about that before you make your decision. And like I always say, write down whatever you decide, then start working towards it.
Toby Nwazor is a business consultant, a life coach, an author, and the President of www.mystartupceo.com. He is a class 2018 MBA student at ESUT Business School. He loves to inspire people for success using his write-ups, books and speaking engagements.
