I’ve been on a professional journey for over 16 years. During this time I’ve experienced a tremendous amount of success (and defeats) as both a corporate marketing and sales executive and an online entrepreneur.
As I look back and take a hard look at where I’ve been there’s one thing that comes immediately to mind and it’s this… for the better part of my journey I was running aimlessly propelled by self-righteousness. I really thought it was all about me and the drive I had to succeed.
For all the financial success and good times I was having, it took one massive explosion to really put things into perspective for me.
In 2002 I built an online business from my home office that did $1.8 million the first year. In year two, it did $2.1 million. In year three, it did $2.89 million. Nice steady growth.
I thought I had it all figured out and was on my way to becoming financially independent. I had several customers to whom I provided service that continued to grow their businesses. I had a system in place that was built to scale without changing one aspect of how I conducted business. Things were looking good.
Then the call came… my top producing customer couldn’t pay his bill! What a mess!
I had no idea what I was going to do next. Like a house of cards my business collapsed in the blink of an eye.
I spent the next several weeks after that phone call trying to keep it together. Those were the most trying weeks of my entire life. The bottom had come out and the experience was surreal. I was literally falling into a bottomless pit. I tried everything I knew to keep it together but to no avail.
Personally and professionally I was in shambles falling, spinning out of control. What a trying time in my life. This one phone call brought me to my knees… literally! There was no end in sight.
Then one day I simply quit.
You heard me right. I said it. I quit!
I literally quit trying to do it myself and handed it to The Lord. At that point the falling stopped and I landed on a solid rock!
With my two feet firmly on the ground, I quit trying and let Him begin doing… wonderful works in my life.
From that time forward I learned to, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6&7.
There’s so much to be had in life. The ability to seize it lies within us all. It’s simply a matter of tapping into our inner strengths.
And those strengths, or gifts, come from one place only… by the Grace of God!
Dig Deep!
Matt
