I’m at the Launch Conference in Orlando as I write this, hearing great information and more reminders about the necessity of being connected to others.
With the growth of the entrepreneurial model, I see lots of people who think they have to “make it on their own.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. As I think about my own little business, I think about my daughter, Ashley, who coordinates all of our communication and websites, runs our live events, and oversees product fulfillment and customer service. We have people who handle the technical details of our business, like Jen, who handles all social media correspondence. We have the designers who create covers and book layouts, the virtual assistants who scan the internet for relevant content, the editors and PR people who help with book sales, and the list goes on and on.
Yes, I’m a business owner – but guess what – I have no employees. I’m a poor people manager, and I love to work alone. But without the complementary skills of all those other people, I could accomplish very little.
Today I heard a reference to this verse from Ecclesiastes. It’s often used as a reference to marriage, but it also speaks to the process of being successful in any area of your life.
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Ecclesiastes 4:8-10 (NIV)
Do you have others around you who are ready to pick you up if you fall down? If you’re a writer, speaker, coach, employee, entrepreneur, free-lancer, independent contractor or college student – then you need people to come alongside you to reach any extraordinary level of success.
