Back when I was a member of the New England Chapter of the National Speakers Association, I heard a talk from a prominent editor at Fast Company Magazine. At the end of his talk, as was the practice in appreciating all of our guest speakers, the group rose to its collective feet and rewarded him with a resounding standing ovation.
His speech had been great, but what he said after the applause died down stuck with me more than anything else. I’ll paraphrase. “It feels really good to get the applause and standing ‘o’, especially because what I’m doing for you is really easy. What I’d love is if you’d all come to our offices next Monday and do the same thing after a grueling editorial meeting. Then I could really use the applause.”
I just finished entering 940 names onto a spreadsheet for a postcard mailing I’ll be doing soon announcing the publication of the new edition of Soul Proprietor. That doesn’t sound so daunting, but I’ve been switching platforms to a Mac and had spent hours transferring data from my ACT program. Turned out, when I went to the Apple Store this morning for them to show me how to export the contacts, there had been an entering error and I was unable to get a clean file. I won’t bore you with the details, but it was excruciating. I came back home, had my MacBook set up next to my desktop to be sure I didn’t miss any of the new entries. Long story short, it took hours and it’s done.
Where’s my standing ovation? I could really use one now. These are the hurdles entrepreneurs face ALL the time with no glory. What I know is that the hard work does show in the strength of character and depth of knowledge successful business owners carry on a cellular (and I don’t mean phones) level. Next time you hear your friend, the entrepreneur, mention having achieved a hard-won goal, put your hands together in support and encouragement.
THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE
Bravo!
I’m a new entrepreneur, as compared to your 30 year run, so I really appreciated and valued your reminder. At times there really IS a lot of blood, sweat and tears behind the scenes!
Good going — I hope you can hear the applause :)!
the standing ovation is always in my head and i give it permission to roar when the occasion presents itself. elaine
Bravo, Jane, from a fan in the audience 🙂
@Rebecca, Elaine, Karen, Sharon and Rita
I LOVE YOU!!!! Even without the sound, this feels great. Same time next week?
Jane,
What I love about you is that you’re human; you tell us about your whole journey, not just the good bits 🙂
Congrats on getting the spreadsheet converted!!
I often think that being an entrepeneur is like being a duck. On the surface we are calm and confident but underneath we are paddling like crazy.
No-one notices the amount of splashing it takes….
Brava, Jane! You always step up. It’s the consistency – the “I show up no matter what” – that gets more than applause. It gets results. I hope you’re feeling satisfaction well-deserved.