In this podcast I will explain a phenomenon that is nearly expected. This error is commonly experienced by many small business owners.

You have decided to buy a car, you have learned how to operate the car, and you are ready to start driving. So you jump in and shift to drive, you hit the gas and OFF YOU GO! You drive like a bat out of hell, like a teenager who just got their license. Full of energy, full of excitement, but clouded by the vision of success. You drive blindly down the Road of Success, not exactly sure what to expect, or where this road will take you, or even if you are on the right road!

It's no wonder why many of these new business owners wind up on the side of the road stuck in a ditch. They end up stuck in a ditch from a variety of reasons, either they take a wrong turn down the wrong road, or they run out of gas soon after they start. Their car breaks down or they run out of money and can't afford the cost of their car. There are lots of road blocks, detours, traffic jams & other unforseen hazards that may prevent you or slow you down from your final goal.

Like many of these new business owners, I was stuck in a ditch. The only thing is, is that I didn't know it. It took me a while to face the fact, that I burned through all of my motivational gas trying to go as fast as I could, that when my tank ran empty my car slowly reduced speed until it came to a complete stop on the side of the road in a deep ditch. Little did I know it would be extremely hard to get myself out. I went through a bit of depression, as I realized what I did and doubting myself. I wondered if I had what it takes to drive my own car, and thought I should become the passenger of someone else's car ... again. It took a lot of soul searching to find out that all I needed was more motivational gas in my tank. The problem was that I could only find a little at a time, and when I found some, I reved up the engine as hard as I could, only to find out that I was just spinning my tires and getting no where except deeper and deeper in a hole.

So there I stood on the side of a road, alone and confused, with my thumb in the air hoping that some company would pick me up. Fortunately, none did. I spent a lot of time in that ditch, and it was there that I had time to reflect on what had happend, and that is when I concluded that I overlooked the most important variable of any business, The Plan!

In the next episode I will explain why "Planning Your Trip" is vital to running a successful business, because it will take a glimps in the future and you will forsee many obstacles and will be able to know what to do when you come upon one. You will also be able to keep your tank full of motivational gas when you plan for and accomplish each milestone along the way.

You have educated yourself in how to operate a car, you are licenced to drive a car, and you have experienced yourself in driving someone else's car. Now you KNOW you want to buy your own car, but do you know which car is best for you? There are many different types of cars; large or small ones, new or used ones, foreign or domestic ones. My best recommendation is to buy a cheap car that has been proven to run well with little maintenance. But most importantly is to buy one that you will love to drive. And if you can find a car that you love to drive that is cheap, and runs well with little maintenance, you should buy it.

Many people buy a car just because it is cheap. These people know little about cars, and think that they will be able to travel down the road of success only to have it break down on them somewhere miles from home, and find it will cost them more money to tow the car home and have it fixed, than it cost to buy the car. In the business world these are called "Get rich quick schemes". Do not buy into them, not only will they cost you lots of time and money, you will be embarrassed by your friends and family who said "I told you so" after you so proudly showed them your beautiful lemon of a car.

Many people will l buy a large and expensive car that makes them look and feel powerful, only to find out that they can't afford the payments. In the business world these may be the lawyers who spend their parents' life savings becoming a lawyer, only to find out that they are struggling, accepting personal injury cases to stay alive. Or the doctors who can't keep their practices open because of the high cost of malpractice insurance due to the lawyers.

Some will buy a car that they don't even like, hoping that this car will take them to their destination. But because they don't like it, they don't take care of it, and it quickly rusts away in the back yard with all the other rusting cars they have bought. Often times people will start a business simply because they want to be rich, and have no passion for what they are doing, and it is to no surprise that these businesses fail.

Others will borrow money to buy a car, pay an arm and a leg to drive the car, only to have the car be repossessed if there is an unforeseen circumstance that causes them to miss a few payments. In this analogy, I will refer to those who find a high interest business loan to buy a business. Their intentions are good, and their planning and execution are excellent, but with one unforeseen circumstance (a delay in production, an error in delivery schedule, a new competitor to your market, etc...) may lead to the lender owning the business you have built and dedicated yourself to.

So you can see that finding the right car is fundamental in being able to drive on the road to success. In my case, I got into a car that required a lot of maintenance. I saw the benefits of owning this car and didn't look at the time I needed to spend fixing up the car to get it into a drivable condition. But it was my passion for driving that led me to put in the time, money and effort into rebuilding my car into a reliable automobile. Many people in this or any of the other cases would have quit driving. They have owned a car and it was a bad experience to them, so they will, for the rest of their lives be a passenger, or worse, a hitch-hiker.

Using the analogy of driving a car to owning a business, you must learn how to run a business before you even dare starting one. And now that you have recognized the power of driving a car, you must first pass Driver's Training. In driver's training you will learn all the rules and regulations about driving a car in a classroom setting, from an expert driver, who will train you on how to become a safe driver. You must pass certain criteria that makes you eligible for driving, such as a vision test, a written test and finaly a course test.

Once you have passed these tests, you have now qualified for your driver's permit. Although you are now able to drive on the road with other drivers, you will be under constant monitor from a lisenced driver, to ensure that you are applying the rules and regulations you learned about in driver's training.

As in business, you will need to qualify yourself for a position within a company. Some businesses require a certian amount of schooling from a college, university or trade school before they will accept you as an employee. And once you have been selected to join a business, you must now be trained in a specific job within the business. If it is a trade business, you will need to become an apprentice, learning as much about your trade from a qualified journeyman. You may spend years learning the business before you know enough to venture out on your own, or in the analogy, to buy your own car. In the mean time, it is expected that you practice driving with someone else's car.

This is great and powerful advice. In my case, I did not get a college degree in business, but taught myself by reading many books, listening to many audio books, and attending various seminars. I eventually had enough knowledge to convince a business owner to let me manage their business, and it was here where I learned first hand knowledge about the daily duties needed to be successful at running a business. Either way you chose to do it, I would highly recommend learning as much about business before you get into one. You will save yourself lots of money and embarassment.

One of the greatest milestones of a teenager in the United States is to come to the age where they are eligible to drive. This is one of the most exciting times for them, because they understand what driving means, FREEDOM! With the ability to drive, comes the freedom to go somewhere and to do something. For most at that young age, this is the first opportunity they have to get a taste of freedom, responsibility and independence. They realize the potential that driving a car can present them; the respect of their parents, the envy of their peers, and the pride within themselves.

Using the analogy of driving a car, to, driving a business, most teenagers don't see the same benefits and opportunities exist. Where, owning your own business can lead to freedom to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, and never deal with a boss telling you what to do, how to do it, and when to have it done.

Most teenagers are trained to believe that success in your career depends on getting a job with a company that has good benefits and a certain amount of security, when the truth is that, in today's market companies are unloading as many benefits as possible to cut expenses. And the only security you have is knowing that if you stay with a company long enough, getting raises periodically throughout the years, you can bet that they will eventually find your replacement who costs them less money, is eager to do anything to make them happy, and may be younger and more creative than you.

It is assumed, that because you are reading this, that you are not like most teenagers, you are not afraid to drive. Or, you may be someone who has gone through the cycle of being trained to get a job and hope for security, only to get kicked to the curb, and now you vow never to put yourself in that same situation again. Now you understand the power that owning your own business can bring, and the freedoms that come along with it. You are ready to drive.

Congratulations! You have made it to the next level. You have already surpassed those who reconize the benefits of driving a car but are too scared to do it, because they know all the statistics. They know how many people die each year from driving, and may even know how many car accidents occur each second of each day. And this fear helps them to rationalize that driving a car is dangerous and risky. You, on the other hand, understand that driving will get you to where you want to go faster than walking or riding a bike.

In this blog I will discuss the power of "DRIVE", and how it can lead to your ultimate goal. I will take you on a journey, through the use of metaphors and analogies of driving a car to reach your destination.

So, follow along as I share with you in my experiences of starting a business, with no prior business knowledge, to creating a successful and rewarding business that has led me to my destination. Find out some of the road blocks, potholes, and detours I've encountered along the way, and what I've done to continue on my way down the road of success.