Hope

Hope is an interesting word. Not for the word itself, it’s just four letters, but for the feeling it gives us. Hope is what pulls us through tough times. Hope is what gets us to a meeting we would rather skip. Let’s be honest; hope is the reason we’re alive today.

When we wake up in the morning, lots of us would rather hit snooze and continue our slumber. We know we need to rise to tackle the number of tasks we have to do, but the bed feels oh so good right now. The hope for a better day due to getting up is what I believe gets us up. If we thought we would be happy sleeping all day, morning rush hour wouldn’t exist.

It’s amazing how our bed gives us so much comfort, literally and figuratively, by being our fortress and our sanctuary. It’s where we go to relax and recharge, but also to think about our day, to cry, and to make love. Its such a welcoming place, yet we have to leave this home within our home to seek the necessities of life. Many thousands of years ago, our ancestors would leave with little certainty that they would return with food, but the hope for success and the need to survive fuelled them. Today, the likelihood of acquiring all that we need to survive is quite high. A luxurious standard of living might not be possible for most, but survival and relative comfort is more than likely. It’s not the same for business owners and entrepreneurs.

If you’ve ever owned a business, you know the fear you sometimes have when you wake up to face the day. Bills to pay, employees that need answers, clients that need work done (if you even have clients), but we still subject ourselves to this stress. I think it’s the biological wiring that some of us have that makes us operate in this way. That desire to get out in the world to trade a product or skill for the necessities to survive is rooted so deeply in our heritage.

A business owner, especially in the early stages, needs more hope than anyone. They need hope to face challenges fit for a warrior. They need hope to do what other’s won’t in order to provide for their family. They need hope to do the daily drudgery, knowing that every task completed is another brick laid while building their Colosseum.

Starting a real estate business is often looked down on because of the poor reputation its developed over the years, yet I chose this as my path. Just like the cave man leaving his home to provide for his family, I see my life as an entrepreneur as my duty to those around me. However, my motivation goes well beyond survival. I have developed skills in construction and could use those skills if all I wanted was to survive, but my motivation comes from having an impact on the people around me.

Living a life of high impact is what I view to be the noblest of paths. I have no certainty that I will be able to achieve it, but the hope is what pulls me through.