Entrepreneur Ignores Advice: “Bumps Head on Da White Meat” The holiday season is the time to really escape the pressures of daily work schedules and really treasure time off with family and friends. For many entrepreneurs, it’s also a time of reflection on the life and business lessons learned over the previous 12 months. The biggest challenge in moving forward and making fresh breakthroughs for the New Year is deciphering it all and getting a fresh Key Perspective - a 360 degree perspective which includes determining what areas are your strengths and what areas you may need to seek advice and/or assistance in. With regards to getting business assistance, it is equally important in determining when, where, and how to receive it.
A few years ago on a holiday trip back to my home town of Little Rock, Arkansas, I was able to spend a little quality time with family and some old friends. One day I found myself in a room with my rambunctious, 3-year-old nephew while others were in another part of the house. Perhaps happy and overjoyed to see me or on a sugar-induced escapade, he began jumping on the bed and bumping off the walls. Instinctively, I say to him something that my granddad would have said to me at that age. I said, “Boy, keep that up and you’ll fall flat and bust your head right down to the white meat.” He pauses for a moment, stares curiously as if he just heard an odd foreign language, and then quickly returns to his super-hyperactivity running into another part of the house. Less than 10 minutes later, I hear a loud CRASH-Kabooom!! Immediately followed by crying. Within a few minutes, my nephew slowly walks back into the room rubbing both eyes and sits next to me. Softly and slowly he says, “Uncle Ricky, I bump my head on da white meat.” Trying to hold in a good chuckle, I replied; “Well, maybe not down to the white meat this time, but, what have we learned here?” As a business adviser, analyst, and mentor, I’ve encountered this same scenario many times before. Not with three-year-olds, but mostly with young twenty and thirty-something entrepreneurs and a few middle-aged business owners as well. Usually because of our egos, pride and/or do-it-yourself tendencies, we sometimes ignore the good advice and/or business assistance available to us. And it sometimes takes a few bumps and lumps to get through to us. Believe me, as a young business owner in the 80’s and 90s; I’ve certainly had my share.