Limitless
“Jump and build your wings on the way down” Paul Martinelli
When I jumped and became a business owner it was because I saw opportunities that no one else saw. Other people saw limits and all the reasons why it would fail and I saw no limits. I had something amazing and the world needed to know. If there had been a me I could have talked to years ago I would have paid any price to know what I know now. I paid a really high price to be the me I am today and I want to help others short cut the journey. Most business owners and leaders feel the same way. Somewhere along the way there was an “a ha” moment and their lens shifted.
They could never see the world the same again.
Gutenberg couldn’t unsee a world with books available to the masses even though over 90% of the population was illiterate and had no grid for what he envisioning. Karl Benz couldn’t unsee a world without the horseless carriage, also known as the automobile, even though it was illegal to drive. Jerry Yang and David Filo, inventors of Yahoo!, couldn’t unsee a world where the masses could access information on the World Wide Web even though less than .4% of the population had access to the internet.
All of us, as business owners and leaders, have had an “a ha” moment that changed the way we see the world. We saw no limits and jumped. The problem however, with no limits is as soon as you jump you see yourself hurling towards the immovable limit of the ground at an alarming rate.
There is this panic moment that sets in and you realize you can’t go back to the way things were because you saw the future. You have tasted something of the divine and everything else you know is too small. But the way forward has never been done before. There is no owners manual or step by step instructions to get you from where you are to the world you see is possible.
It’s the same feeling I had when I brought my son home from the hospital for the first time. I had spent 40 weeks reading, preparing, and planning for this baby. I thought I was ready. By the time he was born I was begging for him to come out. Then the moment came and I held him for the first time. My heart felt like it could burst, it was so full of love for him. In this tiny human I saw all the potential of the world. I could never unsee a world without him in it. I had taken the exciting parenting jump into limitless possibilities and it was amazing. Until the nurse wheeled me out of the hospital door with my precious cargo in tow.
The ride home seemed so surreal. I walked into the hospital with a baby confined to the limits of my body, begging to be free. I walked out of the same hospital feeling vulnerable, scared and partly wishing for the limits to be placed back on.
I have found being a business owner is incredibly similar to giving birth. It is one of the most exhilarating, fulfilling things I’ve ever done and it is one of the most vulnerable and scary things I’ve ever done. No one can give birth for you or parent for you. No one can start a business for you or lead a business for you. The stakes are high, the risks are great, the rewards are massive and there are no limits.
