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Time To Get Rolling!

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: The other day I had an experience that made me feel terrified, relieved, hilariously amused, and reflective... all in the space of about four minutes....

Time To Get Rolling!

Some Would-Be Entrepreneurs Are Stuck In "Park" The other day I had an experience that made me feel terrified, relieved, hilariously amused, and reflective... all in the space of about four minutes!

For sentimental reasons, I drive an old beat-up Ford Bronco. I love that truck, but it does seem a bit out of place at our southern Colorado retreat, a home so luxurious it has two large garages - one upstairs, and one downstairs. (Now, lest you think our wealth leads us to live an ostentatious life, let me assure you that our other two homes only have one large garage each.) So about a week ago, Friend Wife and I came home to knock out a few projects, and my first chore was to move the ol' Bronco from the lower garage to the upper one. The truck is old enough that it needs a few minutes to warm up, so I went out and started it, then came back in to take care of some other little tasks while the vehicle warmed up.

Within a couple of minutes, I started hearing Friend Wife making a lot of loud noise upstairs. Since she never does this, I immediately assumed something was very wrong, and I had the good luck to guess that the problem was in the lower garage. It was only the first of many strokes of good luck. As I rushed out to the now-empty garage, I realized I'd left the truck idling in neutral without applying the parking brake, and it had "decided" to roll on out and explore the countryside!

It's also lucky that I had backed the truck into the garage, so it was actually rolling forward (not backward). It's also lucky that I'd recently had the wheels aligned, so it rolled on virtually a straight line. More luck: our "back yard" is nearly two acres of pretty-much wild, un-landscaped prairie. Even more luck: we'd had a fair amount of snowfall which had recently melted, leaving our chunk of prairie very muddy and soft, and making it impossible for the truck to roll far enough to damage anyone else's property.

So the truck rolled to a stop in the mud before I could get to it, racing at what is now my top speed. (I should also mention that the lower driveway was still covered with ice, so perhaps my greatest stroke of luck was that I didn't slip on that ice and crack open my head!) I hopped in and turned the truck around, driving it uneventfully back to the concrete driveway and right up to the upper garage.

It was fine, though its tires were a bit muddy.

I was also undamaged, except for muddy shoes, which my wife helped me clean off while we both laughed out loud about the incident. "I happened to be looking out the window," she said, between chuckles, "and I saw the truck roll out just like it would if you'd been driving it... but when I looked in the driver's seat, there you, uh, weren't!"

We're still laughing about it, a week later.

The whole incident did get me thinking, though. Like many people, I ascribe an imaginary personality to my vehicle. Thinking of it as a person, I mused whether that Bronco might've been left to idle and warm up many times over the years, only to yearn for a chance to break free and roll out of the garage without supervision or help from me... and now, here was its lucky break! I could imagine it giggling with glee as it escaped the confinement of being driven, and moved out all on its own.

And as a metaphor, I wondered how many business leaders are stuck in "park," simply idling, trying to "warm up" and waiting for someone else to drive them. For those hard-charging business operators who know what it takes to be successful, it might be hard to believe: but I've actually met a few business owners who, like my truck, really are just waiting to be driven. They operate more as Victims than as Entrepreneurs, waiting for things to happen to them, and ready to blame everything from their customers to the dismal market to global economic gloom for their own lack of business results.

Check yourself. Have you left yourself stuck, with your parking brake set? If so, the time is now to get rolling with your business. Don't wait for someone else to make your business profitable. If you don't drive it, no one will... and if it gets stuck in the mud, that might be the least of your worries.

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Article Tags: entrepreneurship, health wealth and happiness, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility



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