Instead of quitting, I am running my own business. To me, Abraham Lincoln was the reason!
Everyone doesn’t like any kind of routine. I was an 8–4 English teacher in a popular school in Egypt. Actually, I didn’t work all day, but I had some sessions during the day to provide the students with the planned lesson and that’s it. I felt bored repeating the same process, meeting the same students and going down a dull path day after day.
One day at school I had enough time to relax and surf the internet as my habit is to read interesting topics about successful people. While scrolling down on Google, searching for something interesting to read, I found an article about Lincoln’s life who is described as the father of failures.
I mumbled some words and said, “How can a former president of one of the biggest countries be described as the father of failures?” Actually, I was curious to know why he was described as a failure. To my surprise, I found myself dedicated to his story and how badly he struggled in his life to be a president. I decided to buy a book about him and went deep into his story because I felt there was a change coming for me.
-What I learned from reading his book
One of his quotes that grabbed my attention while reading was, “If we can’t find the way of success, we have to create it.” And this left an inner thought inside me that I have to stand out and think outside the box. My future plan was to rent a place where I could teach people English, especially the ones who wanted to improve their language to apply for jobs. This pushed me that I should start now along with the school, so why should my plan be in the future?
I rented a place, paid all its expenses and started to share who I am on social media. Since there were many competitors doing much better than me, I got few students after 6 months although I kept paying the rent for 6 months and received little money compared to the income.
Should I quit?
For six months, I spent more than half of my school salary on the project, thinking that it would pay off. I continued reading the book, considering quitting my small business to get back to my daily routine. While reading about the president, I noticed how many times he had failed before becoming a president.
When he was 43, he nominated himself as president and failed, 46 and failed, 48 and failed, 55 and failed, 58 and failed, but at the age of 60, he was nominated to be the US president. Not only did he become a president, but he became one of the most successful presidents in a short time thanks to his achievements.
I concluded that he totally had a belief in himself to reach what he needed one day. The idea of quitting started to fade away, especially after reading his advice, “I walk slowly, but I never walk backward. Keep going.” I felt as if he was talking to me. He continued, “Great and successful men are ordinary men with extraordinary determination.”
The book explained also how he tried many times in different fields such as trading and industry before becoming a leader and he never had the idea of quitting. Lincoln’s theory was to rule America differently, make progress and to be different to bring success to it.
My success
I looked for new methods to get new students to subscribe to my private classes, searched the internet and put what I had learned into practice. I found out that rule number one is to believe in yourself and be optimistic.
I worked for 6 months around the clock, posting on the internet, making offers, using new techniques to apply in my class, and many more. The steadiness of Lincoln being rejected more than 5 times until he reached what he needed kept chasing me for better until, little by little, I was able to get more students to subscribe thanks to the effort I made.
I have been running now my own business as an English coach for 2 years thanks to Abraham’s belief. One more thing that I want you to pay attention to is instead of quitting your job now to establish your own business with no plan, hold the stick in the middle and see what will happen then. Remember this…..
