Five years ago, I was invited to give a presentation to a group of entrepreneurs and small business leaders in a program series entitled “Meeting of the Minds.” The host of the program, local entrepreneur Annie Singh-Quern, told me that I could talk about anything. I surveyed the previous presentations, and they were all excellent, but most focused on practical tips and suggestions. I decided to make mine more personal—some might say I was even vulnerable that night. You see, the conventional entrepreneurial wisdom is “fake it until you make it.” I don’t think that’s true. I believe most people crave authenticity.
On the evening of April 16, 2019, the “Meeting of the Minds” event took place at Darrin Flanagan’s excellent Launch & Go Workspace in Peachtree City. The room was packed with people—many of whom I knew, but surprisingly many that I did not know. Would they relate to my personal presentation, or would they get bored?
I had decided to make one of my favorite poems the basis of the presentation. The poem makes five key points:
• The dream, both shattered and realized
• The sting of failure, can you tolerate that?
• The joy of success, can you handle that?
• The discipline of doing what needs to be done
• The discovery of self
I started my presentation with a recitation of the poem. Here it is.
The Invitation
by Oriah “Mountain Dreamer”
It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.
It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”
It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.
By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming, from the book The Invitation
published by HarperONE, San Francisco, Copyright 1999, All rights reserved.
I cried as I read the poem. As I looked around the room that night, I was not the only one. Apparently, I had touched a nerve—in a good way. There was a vibe that night that I haven’t sensed in very many business presentations. We bonded in a way that no training class or seminar can. Indeed, I came to realize that most of us are on similar journeys. It’s true that I had been on my journey a little longer than most of the people in the room that night, which made the next part of the presentation even more relevant.
As I was drying my eyes, trying to gain composure, I told the audience of entrepreneurial brothers and sisters the five things I wish someone had told me when I started my business:
- The dream is more important than the plan.
- You will experience failure; can you tolerate that?
- You will experience joy; can you handle that?
- It’ll require discipline to do what’s needed.
- Running a business is one of the best ways to truly know yourself.
In conclusion, I’ve come to realize that running a business is not about income statements and business plans. It’s all about you as a person. Your personality and attitude affect the trajectory of your business. Indeed, personality patterns are like dragons. There’s an old Chinese proverb about dragons:
“Ignore the dragon and it will eat you.
Confront the dragon and it will defeat you.
Learn to ride the dragon and you will take advantage of its might and power.”
The key is to recognize and learn to use the strengths that are hidden in your patterns, not to be consumed by them.
Do you like the company you keep in the empty moments?
Here’s a LINK to a PDF copy of the original presentation I gave to everyone that night.
[Joe Domaleski, a Fayette County resident for 25 years, is the owner of Country Fried Creative – an award-winning digital marketing agency located in Peachtree City. His company was the Fayette Chamber’s 2021 Small Business of the Year. Joe is a husband, father of three grown children, and proud Army veteran. He has an MBA from Georgia State University and enjoys sharing his perspectives drawing from thirty years of business leadership experience. Sign up for the Country Fried Creative newsletter to get marketing and business articles directly in your inbox. ]
