Small Business Opportunity. Discipline Required

After nearly 30 years in corporate America, Irene planned to start her own business. She attended classes on entrepreneurship and seemed committed to a goal of launching a pet-sitting business. Leads offered were met with vague comments of dismissals like, “I don’t want to drive to that part of town.”

Penny, on the other hand, responded quickly to a request for information about her pet-sitting availability. She never apologized for the fact that her mother made the information call with her. After all, she was only 15 years old. Instead, she brought her notebook, asked questions, and prepared for business.

The practice of discipline requires an innate sense of urgency, preparedness and a commitment to get things done. Without discipline, any one of us can succumb to distraction. Tasks can easily expand to take one, two, three hours or more. Suddenly the day is gone and the top priorities remain on the list. The discipline of focus allows single-minded concentration that makes real progress possible.

In the words of John Lennon, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Irene is probably just affected by life. She will have to increase her discipline and focus on business in order to win at the game of entrepreneurship. Penny, while lacking in experience, has one big thing going for her: urgency in response to customer inquiry.

Small business success could be as simple as pet-sitting. Just add discipline. Or, as Jim Rohn puts it, “Discipline is the bridge between a goal and results.”