Inspiration comes in many forms

Inspiration can come in many forms. Many are inspired by their families, friends, athletes, etc., so you may find it odd that I found inspiration in my parents rose garden. My family and I would spend a lot of time working in this garden together. However, this is not just any old rose garden. This is the rose garden that many people warned us would never grow. This rose garden, much like my business, is the result of what people can accomplish when they are willing to work hard to achieve their goals and not allow the negativity of others to get in the way of achieving success.

People did not think we would be able to grow a garden in this particular spot. You cannot see it in this picture, but to the left of this garden is a huge tree. When we shared our plans with some of our neighbors about growing a garden in this spot, we were warned not to do so. They told us stories of how other people who lived in this house before us tried to plant a garden in this spot and were unsuccessful in doing so because when you went to water the flowers, the roots of the tree next to this spot would “steal” the water; thus, causing the plants to die.

However, my parents (mainly my mother!) were intent on having a rose garden in this spot. My mother loves flowers and always wanted a rose garden in the front of the house. Instead of doing the “safe” thing and planting their garden in another spot, they chose to acknowledge the obstacles and work around the issues the roots posed to their quest in having a rose garden. They did something no one else ever thought to do. They (of course with the help of my sister and I) dug holes deep enough to place buckets that were equally deep enough to allow the roots of the roses to grow and planted their flowers within these buckets. We placed enough dirt to hide the rims of the buckets and further decorated the area with wood chips.

As you can see, their idea worked because they did not allow previous failures of others deter them from attaining the goal they sought to achieve. People soon started coming to my parents for gardening tips since they were able to achieve what was once deemed as impossible. However, what my parents did was not extraordinary by any means, it worked because they were willing to think outside of the box.

Although we no longer live in this house, this rose garden continues to serve as an inspiration to me because just like the warnings my parents received in planting a garden in this spot, I received warnings from others in starting my business. My family supported my decision to do so, however, my friends turned out to be a different story. They rattled off bleak statistics of how much it cost to start a business, the number of businesses that failed, etc. all in an attempt to get me to reconsider my decision.

However, this rose garden serves as a constant reminder to me that you must master the art of filtering advice because doing so will heighten your ability to think outside of the box. You can listen to the advice that people are freely willing to dish out (oftentimes without you asking for it), but you have to be able to put it in perspective. In other words, keep the good advice and toss the bad advice into the trash. The main reason I kept hearing from my friends was that being an entrepreneur was “risky.”

During my filtering process I realized that choosing to work for a corporation is just as “risky” because at the end of the day the only way you are guaranteed a job is if you own your own business. I then came across all sorts of stories combating the very reasons my friends were trying to talk me out of starting my own business. For example, my friend was quoting some ridiculous figure of how much you needed to have saved before you even think about starting a business. However, in one of the many entrepreneur magazines I subscribe to, I kept coming across articles where women started their own entreprises in their kitchen or basement.

These articles confirmed my decision to start my own business. I acknowledged all the issues that served as obstacles (i.e. money, marketing, etc.) and was inspired to think outside the box. I didn’t have tons of money saved up, so I couldn’t quit my day job. Therefore, I worked full time while slowly preparing to launch out on my own. I literally set a side money from each paycheck that would be used to fund various aspects of my business. I was able to get my business up and running off the ground a year later. Now those very same people who tried talking me out of my business are coming to me for advice in how to start their own business. Had I not been willing to try and accepted the hindrances before me I would not be where I am today.

Although, I have a long way to go in my journey through entrepreneurship, I am making great progress. I know there is no reason in the world why I cannot be one of the people I read about in my entrepreneur magazines. The lessons that I learned from my parents rose garden inspired me to be creative in reaching the goals I set out to achieve. There is more than one way to attain your goals in life. However, the trick is to find ways to work around the obstacles you are sure to encounter as my parents did with their rose garden so you can defy the odds and experience abundant success.