Achieving Success

IF YOU ARE TOO BUSY TO READ THIS ARTICLE RIGHT NOW, PLEASE PRINT IT AND SAVE IT FOR A TIME WHEN YOU NEED A LITTLE INSPIRATION AND IT BECOMES MOST RELEVANT. Believe me, a time will come! Also if you feel you know a business owner that is facing such a challenge at the moment, please pass this on.

Let’s face it, at some point in our businesses we are faced with at least one insurmountable obstacle one that challenges our passion, taps out our resources, and pulls us far, far out of our comfort zone. Many business owners give up at this point, wave the white flag on entrepreneurship and return to the working world. Others settle into a comfortable life of mediocrity.

But perhaps you are looking for more. Deep down you know that you and your business have more potential. You truly believe that what you are doing serves an important purpose and is your special way of making a difference, helping others, the economy, the environment, etc.

So what does it take for you to get your business to the next level, to grow it to where you have reached your definition of success, and/or to leave a legacy or success story that others can tell?

Why not look to a mortician? Not just any mortician, but one who has left such a legacy. Some of you may have already come across his work. It’s located outside of Boswell, BC and it is a dwelling called the Glass House. I took my son there recently, because I felt it was important he see it. He is after all partially named after this mortician his great grandfather David Brown. But as my step-aunt Diane (who still runs the Glass House with my step-uncle Eldon) regaled once more the story of how it came about, I couldn’t help but find myself in awe of what my grandfather had created and left for so many to enjoy. The beauty is not so much in the house, but rather in the story of how it came about.

Here is my version of what it takes to achieve success. Anything I missed?

Seizing an Opportunity David Brown was a mortician. He and my great-uncles ran the funeral home in Red Deer, Alberta. Being a very creative man by nature, he felt that there must be something that could be done with all the embalming fluid bottles that went to waste in funeral homes. Call him a re-cycler or environmentalist before his time, he saw within this problem, an opportunity.

Is there an opportunity that others in your field are missing?

Something Unique I wish I could tell you how he came up with the idea of using the embalming fluid bottles to build his retirement home, but I haven’t a clue. The how doesn’t really matter. What does is that he came up with something very unique. A dwelling that, to this day, over 50 years later, still attracts the attention of passers by to the point that they will stop and spend some time to have a closer look.

Finding your difference in the marketplace is essential for long term success and can save you a fortune in lost revenues and unnecessary promotional costs.

Planning My grandfather spent a lot of time planning his development. He required approximately 500,000 bottles for a start. Additionally he knew he would need to test how the bottles would stand up to heat in the summer and cold in the winter. So the experiments began. Mini structures were built and heated, others were built and frozen. Finally he found the right combination of bottles and mortar that would work.

It’s common to think things out at 50,000 feet. But attention to detail and planning for eventualities is worth its weight in gold.

Location David Brown knew that his structure couldn’t withstand Alberta winters. He also needed a location where the building would experience very little shifting. So he chose a piece of bedrock in the milder climate of BC as the final destination for his glass house. This piece of bedrock happened to be located on a major thoroughfare to Vancouver in its day, so the traffic was tremendous!

They say in marketing only 3 things really matter location, location, location. Look at your business at the moment, is it possible that better positioning or a different distribution channel could be what you really need to achieve success?

Hard Work There is a great picture of David Brown at the Glass House. He is sitting down and on the bottom of his shoe is very big hole. He didn’t sit down very often (a trait my mother definitely inherited). He worked hard. He was not a builder, nor was he an architect. He was a mortician, but he built a large majority of the house by himself. It took simple