Every day we are hit with articles about people who have built huge businesses almost instantly. Facebook. Red Bull. Amazon. Google.
The entrepreneur is the new rock star. And business owners are stunningly amazed!
The examples seem so plentiful they give the impression that these rags to riches scenarios are the norm.
The stats, however, show they are anything but.
Almost every great business started slowly.
Walmart had only 2 stores for its first 7 years. Now it has thousands of stores in 28 countries across the globe.
Marriott has thousands of hotels worldwide. But it started with just one root beer stand.
Merck is valued at over $50 billion. But it struggled initially with just a single small pharmacy.
Starbucks has over 16,000 stores, but for the first 13 years it only had 5.
Nike took years before it exceeded $ 1 million in revenue.
So please remember this as you try to build something great. Be patient.
From a business coaching perspective, if you’re doing it slow and tough, you just may be doing it right.
Keep persisting. Keep refining. Keep visioning. But most of all keep moving forward.
For almost everyone, the road to greatness is long. Despite what the media may say.
