Rating: +0
I would say my toughest time was when I was in my early 20’s and finding myself very successful, then trusting my business affairs and all of my money to some trusted advisors who turned out to be not so trustworthy.
After I returned from one of my seminar tours, I not only found myself dead broke, but more than $200,000 in the hole.
It was a definite cross-roads for me, and at one point, I even considered chucking the whole idea of being in business for myself and just getting a job.
Fortunately, I took another couple days, took some good advice from my dad (basically, he told me to get a list of what I needed to do to get back in business for myself and just start working my list …) and started again from nothing.
While it wasn’t easy – the process was simple … I just went out and did what I did best giving workshops and seminars and one-on-one coaching and within the year I paid off all my debt and was well ahead of the game.
It did teach me a great lesson about partnerships (never get into one, for one thing), and a great deal about human nature, in that at your lowest point, there will always be people who want to help and support you, as well as those people who adopt an “I told you so” attitude and who reveal their true colors about the nature of their friendship with you.
All that said, it also taught me how it’s possible to turn a huge negative into a positive. I really only had two choices – admit defeat and get a job, or go after my dreams and aspirations. While I did admit defeat for the moment – I also decided to go after what I really wanted – learning how not to do certain things in the future.
All we have is experience, and if we can react in a positive way to a negative situation, we’re far better for it.
At least that’s the lesson I took from that time – one that has served me very well since.
