| A sower went out to sow, And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Matthew 13:3-8 For this parable I want you to think of your ideas as the seeds. Give your ideas a chance to grow, to prosper. Sure, some of your ideas will turn out to be rootless, never able to cling to success. Maybe some ideas won’t be worth the effort of harvesting. The work involved in reaping the rewards, may outweigh the benefit, and it’s better to let this idea or business die, than to go into the thorns to harvest it. BUT… some ideas will end up being the seeds that bring forth a hundred times. These are the ideas that allow you to finance new plans. There are very few people who enjoy real success on their first attempt at planting an idea and having it bear fruit. Usually they try a number of things, then one of those ideas hits pay-dirt, and compensates for all the failures that came before it. Successful people know that you have to sow many seeds to find that one special seed that will reap many times its original investment. Unsuccessful people throw down one seed of an idea, and become disheartened when it doesn’t take root. There are also people who see their seeds taken by others. Maybe these are the birds of the parable. But unlike birds that just eat the seeds, these other people plant that idea, nurture it, and reap rewards that the original creator of the idea should be reaping. Actually, I shouldn’t say the original creator ought to be reaping the rewards, because if you just allow your ideas to sit on the surface rather than planting them and helping them grow, you deserve to lose them. God gives you the idea, but if you can’t muster the energy to bring His plan to completion, He actually has no choice but to pass the idea on to someone who will. When you get ideas, you can increase the chances of them succeeding. How do you do this? By preparing the soil. Spend some time getting ready. Make a plan. Successful businesses all begin with some sort of plan. This business plan should have at least one year and five year projections. Now, after saying all that, I must warn you not to spend too much time planning. Planning without action, is actually worse than action without planning. If you spend too much time preparing the soil, you will miss the planting season. There should be time set aside for making the business plan, but keep in mind that every idea only has a limited window of opportunity in which it is that idea’s time to grow and flourish. If you spend too much time “working” on a good idea, for sure a “bird” will snatch up your idea and run with it. And not just any bird, but one of those successful early birds. All you’ll be left with is a little jealousy and a story to tell your friends. “That was MY idea.” All men’s gains are the fruit of his venturing. -Herodotus |
