Now, What Is She Talking About?

ometimes in your life, you hear something that hits you square between the eyes.

Picture this; you have a pot of boiling water, a carrot, an egg, and a coffee bean. If you put the carrot into the boiling water, it gets soft. If you put the egg into the boiling water, it gets hard. Finally, putting the coffee bean into the boiling water changes the water to coffee.

Let me explain why this impacted me and why I had to share it. I think about this in business…especially right now, because my business is changing as the market changes. What if I am a carrot? If I become soft or worried about my business, I will start giving away loans for no profit. After all, it could result from being afraid to lose the loan entirely because I don’t think our value is enough. I will start to lose money and potentially must lay off the most important people to me beyond my family, my team. I can’t get soft when business gets hard. I know we bring massive value, and my people are too important. What if I am an egg? If I become hard, I lose empathy with clients and partners. They need to know that we are on their side, not their opposition, understanding the challenges of their credit or payment concerns. Take the multiple calls from partners because maybe this is the only deal they are closing this month, and they need it to go well, which means micromanaging us a little more. I won’t get hard when the business gets hard. What if I am the coffee bean? What if I change the water entirely? What if I look at each day as an opportunity to have an impact, reduce fear of the changing market, and step up the experience each client and partner receives from us?

This is the message: be the coffee bean. Change the energy, change the perception, and change the landscape of the day. I share this with all of you because each day, there are moments when I am the carrot, the egg, and the coffee bean. So focus on being the coffee bean in your day and see how it could impact your team, partners, or family.