We Care More About The Stuff That Goes Wrong!

The Year We Completed The Stream Bed And Deck

I built an 89 foot stream in my backyard.  We live on the edge of our little town so we look like we live in the country.  We have three homes next door and the nearest one is located 50 yards to the north of our house.  The rest of our property behind our home is sloped gradually up to a 60 degree hill.  It was perfect terrain for building a cool looking stream bed with a couple of nice waterfalls.

We landscaped the area with a couple of starting points to the water flow.  The beginning of the two water sources are separate areas that spill water into a large pond area that overflows its lower edge into the stream bed.  At the bottom of the stream bed is another small water feature that collects the water from the stream and pumps it back up to the two sources at the top of the loop.  Over the large pond at the top of the loop is a small deck which appears to be floating over the pond.  It over-looks the flow of the whole stream down the hill.

On the deck is a cast iron wood burning outdoor stove with a very cool chimney.  We sit out there some nights watching the evening pass by.  It is a great place to chat about stuff.  The water and the fire have some very cool evening lighting installed that makes this place kind of special.  It is almost a perfect campground area in our backyard.  Our backyard is half of an acre.  The landscaping is a woodland-styled arrangement.  We love hanging out in our yard.  Many folks who visit and spend time with us in the yard by the fire have made comments about how peaceful it is outside.  Peaceful environments are a joy to experience.  The world is very loud.  Most of you all know what I mean.

The rocks in the stream bed took eight full trucks to haul in.  Some are very large.  I carried each rock by hand and wheelbarrow.  I shaped the terrain, carried all of the rock and even rolled the real heavy ones down the hill from the top of the place where the water begins.  Two very large rocks were brought in by a paid landscaping crew.  They were just too heavy for me to budge.

It took another three truck loads of river rock to wheelbarrow into the river bed and spread about.  That was a heavy job as well.  Once the larger rocks were in place and the river rock was completely spread about we brought in a full truck load of pea gravel.   The pea gravel was used to make a small path near the lower edge of the stream and some 'landing' areas to design a few woodland landscaped garden features where birds and critters might like to collect.  In total, I suspect the rocks might weigh 15 to 16 tons.  I ruined two wheelbarrows doing the job.

Nine years later it has all grown in nicely.  It is a wonderful place to hang out.  The neighbors house located 50 yards next door is almost invisible now.  The trees and plants we planted have grown up enough to become the nice barrier we originally planned.  Just the very top of the other house down the hill is visible to us now.  We almost feel secluded inside our park.  It would serve as a great entertainment home for someone.  Electrical, plumbing, lighting feature boxes, outlets and music are all located underground.  It is kind of nice.

Our yard has intimidated some guests that are weekend landscapers.  You can tell when they visit it for the first time.  It is an ambitious project.  My neighbor quit three years ago trying to keep up with the Jones'.  He always apologizes for how he keeps up the area that borders our two properties.  We like to keep our woodland area pristine.  It is a big job.  We have never been offended by how he maintains his property.  He worries about it far too much.  He is always apologizing to us about it.

There are several really good stories in this project to talk about.  This kind of project is a perfect example to help point out how a small business should be run.  When you decide to build your business, decide to make it special.  Make sure you focus on how well it attracts others, while at the same time provides you with a peaceful place to maintain.  Your personal rewards need to come from the same place you devote all of your energy to building.  It can be done.  You need to learn how to do that kind of business work if you want your business to be growing hot and attractive.  Make the two elements become one...work and pleasure.

The Work Needs To Be Done

We spend way too much time caring about the stuff that goes wrong in life instead of working with the stuff that goes right.  Our energy is often times devoted to the wrong kind of work.  I have met many people who cannot conceive how much work it took to pack 'by-hand' 15 tons of rock into our backyard.  It took two years of very hard work.  Those people will not do that kind of work.  They are also people who wished they had our wonderful 'park' results but do not want to do the work to make it happen.  They are way to focused on the kind of stuff that can go wrong with doing too much work.  They will always settle for less.  If they own a small business, this same mind-set determines how low their business model will perform.

Nobody is very good at switching off the habits of their mind-sets.  Your mind-sets are your mind-sets.  They run the same at home as they do at work.  There is no real switch to flip that turns mind-sets on and off depending upon where you are located.  If you commonly misplace your keys at home, you do the same stuff at work.  Only at work it is more serious.  The misplaced note you wrote may be the one for producing a great follow-up you promised to do for a customer.  You only lost it because it was not as important to you to produce a great park in your yard.  You did not want to produce a very cool business model that is extremely accountable.  Quit apologizing for it.  You will either keep it up or you won't.  Your mind-set determines what you will in the end do.  You may be the one who will spend way too much time caring about the stuff that goes wrong in life instead of working with the stuff that goes right.

Your habits may be of the type that makes sure you do not keep up the maintenance of the projects you design.  Your habits may be of the type that makes sure you do not design your business work to be a part of what you enjoy working to do.  The things your business misses doing are the things you have come to accept.  You do not desire to carry 15 tons of rock.  You would prefer to buy a pot that can be placed next to your front door and set it into a small tub covered with gravel from your backyard installed with a small pump that dribbles water around and around.  It is plugged in, running by your front door, for others to enjoy if they come to visit your house.  You cannot see it from your family room.  It was not placed by your front door for you to enjoy.  Do you work your business in this same fashion?  Does your business design have these same habits?  Do you find yourself apologizing to your neighbor about how your business location appears sub-par?  If so, the real weight you are carrying from the struggles your business is producing is far more heavy than the 15 tons I carried several years ago.  The weight of your business problems are too heavy to carry for very long.  Your business perspective will eventually become too tainted to care anymore.  It may already be there.

I just finished another exciting project in the front driveway of our yard.  My wife loves it.  It has sparked the next part of a new project we are talking about doing.  I am budgeting for that project right now.  We are discussing how we plan to do it and what a great benefit it will provide for our home to enjoy.  This is exactly how you develop a really good business model.  You will never become bored by the poor activity your model provides.  Quit believing the market cannot support incredible business model designs.

I am watching an old Chapel Tower Funeral Home business that failed to continue to operate downtown become a new and exciting brew pub establishment.  They struggled in the beginning and shut down for a short period of time.  Then the owner decided to make the best move of his life.  He decided to hire a professional to manage the business model.  He fired his sister who was the manager with little experience but had a lot of family ties.  They re-opened for business under new management.  The young man now in charge has a ton of creativity and courage.  In seven short months, he seems to be over-flowing with record crowds, each evening.  His business model is the talk of the town.  Two other competitors are now re-modeling to keep up.  Business success is infectious.  The energy that brew pub is creating is proof that the markets are present.  It is only the owners of small business who kill it.                 

How heavy can a problem become?  In fact, issues in life can become much like carrying weight around.  If you believe a one time project of carrying 15 tons of wonderful rock to build a great stream bed is too much work, you better not expect too much success from your business model.  Success is not coming your way.  You are going to have to earn it, the old fashioned way.  You better roll up your sleeves, get the checkbook out and begin doing some really cool stuff with your business model.  The market is searching for the next best thing to honor.  Make sure it is something you can enjoy, instead of having to apologize for how it looks.

Quit worrying about the stuff that goes wrong and start doing the things that go right.

Until next time...