"Gotcha Day", and Remembrance

Many of our clients and friends are out this week, but I wanted to drop you a note, here, to remind you of the power of remembrance.
Today is my eldest daughter, Lily’s, “gotcha day” (that’s a term in the adoption community used for the day we “got her”, i.e. she came to us, to stay).
If you’re at all interested in a beautiful, 5-minute video, looking back on the year and some of the process, my wife has posted one to her blog, and you can check it out right here:
http://everybitterthingissweet.com/2012/07/the-power-of-remembering/
In that post, my wife (oh, she’s so much wiser than me, in so many ways!) points to something which I believe is of incredible value to the entrepreneurial business owner — be it in tax, accounting, legal, or really ANY field:
We stand on the foundation of hard work, risk, great faith — and a dream.
It’s so easy to forget the dreams we carried for our firm, after some years down the road of starting it. The funny thing is, we actually HIT some of those goals we set out to hit … they’re quickly replaced by new goals, and the hamster wheel starts spinning again.
Or, we DON’T hit our goals, and we internally slink away from our dreams, take the psychological hit, and try to move on, with lesser vision and a reduced confidence.
When I sent out the Declaration of Indpendence on Wednesday, I wasn’t expecting a big response … but I got one. And part of it, at least for me (as I laid out the email in Infusionsoft, and re-read the thing), was a reminder that no great venture — or even a small one — is ever accomplished except in the face of obstacles, missed opportunities, setbacks and struggle.
But the beauty of “declaration”, per se, is that it forces us to hold on to those very dreams we initially carried for our business, for our lives, and for what we firmly believed (at the time) to be possible.
Do not give up on those dreams, my friend.
Yours might be different from another’s, but that’s sort of the point — they’re YOUR dreams, and they don’t just “happen” outside of struggle.
As I look back over the last year with my two new daughters, I see a story line of beauty, tears, struggle and joy. The same is true as I look back over the 5+ years with AdvisorProMarketer (formerly BuildaHerd). I’ve hit many goals, but I’ve also got many new ones we’re still reaching for.
Take some time to celebrate, this weekend, all that you’ve been through. There may not be an anniversary to mark, but there IS a series of hurdles leaped, setbacks overcome, and (even) dreams attained that are absolutely essential to celebrate. This provides fuel for the next five years, if you let it.
After all, I’m not giving up … are you?
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Tax Pros: Troy, Melissa and I will be at the NATP Convention next week in Baltimore. Please make sure you stop by and say hello! We’d love to hear from you, and find out more and better ways we can serve you!