| Are you stuck in the mud? That is, do aspects of | | | | tugging, no wrenching, no profanities or disgust. Just |
| your business development efforts seem to be | | | | gentle lifting. |
| moving along at a painfully slow pace? Well you're | | | | While he was lifting he told me about a time when he |
| definitely not alone. Building and sustaining effective | | | | was a young man. He came across a boy who had |
| business development processes takes time and | | | | driven his motorcycle off the road and into a muddy |
| patience. Here's an example of what I mean. | | | | slough. The boy's rather angry father arrived with a |
| When I was attending Concordia College in Moorhead, | | | | tractor and proceeded to hook a metal chain to the |
| Minnesota, I worked part time for Dr. Earl Scholz, a | | | | motorcycle. When the father started to pull the |
| professor of horticulture who taught at North Dakota | | | | motorcycle, the chain immediately broke. This |
| State University (NDSU - Go Bison!). One day while | | | | process was repeated a few more times until Earl |
| working at his family's berry farm just west of town, | | | | arrived with his horse. He proceeded to tie a small |
| he noticed me struggling to pull a fence post from | | | | rope to the motorcycle and tethered it to the horn |
| the mud. | | | | of the horse's saddle. The horse pulled gently, and |
| The snow had recently melted and we were | | | | consistently. The motorcycle began to move. Within |
| removing temporary fencing that was used as a | | | | a short time, the motorcycle was retrieved from the |
| snow fence. It's desirable for strawberries to be | | | | mud. |
| sufficiently covered with snow because it is | | | | As Earl finished the story, he handed me the fence |
| important that strawberries stay as cool as possible | | | | post. This turned out to be a simple yet revealing life |
| late into the spring so that they don't bloom too | | | | lesson for me. When stuck in the mud, pulling hard on |
| early. The risk of future cool weather after they | | | | things will get you nowhere. The mud is neither your |
| begin to bloom can ultimately stunt the growth of | | | | friend nor your foe, but you must recognize the |
| the plant and reduce the strawberry yield. At any | | | | nature of the mud and work within its boundaries. Pull |
| rate, the melted snow had turned the farm fields in | | | | gently and consistently; don't fight the mud. This may |
| to thick, gooey mud fields. | | | | be counter intuitive at first glance. |
| As Earl watched me twisting and wrenching the | | | | Your business development efforts will see a lift over |
| fence post, he calmly strode next to me and said, | | | | time by gently and consistently pulling on whatever |
| "Let me take a crack at it, OK?" | | | | may be stuck. How are you marketing yourself and |
| Earl was 40+ years my senior and built no heftier | | | | your services? Are you speaking, writing, networking, |
| than I (we probably both weighed in at about 160 | | | | or advertising gently and consistently? Or are you |
| pounds with sopping wet clothes on). He grabbed the | | | | pulling hard and wearing yourself out while at the |
| top of the fence post and started to gently lift. No | | | | same time burning through too much money? |