The following is submitted by a B4T worker in the Arab world.
People who believe in a quick path to success are not the ones committed to performing the necessary hard work to get there. – Robert Herjavec
An often struggle for B4Ters is to keep our heads above water. Trying to learn to setup a business in a foreign country when we haven’t even done it in our home country is no small feat. Exacerbating the drama is our desire to have a wider impact on the local community than just earning a living for ourselves. Therefore, learning what the local people need will involve our learning their language and culture. It can be a life-long effort! When we get stressed thinking through the long term task ahead of us, we can narrow our field of vision. Therefore, I hope the following wisdom from Robert Herjavec, one of the Sharks on ABC’s Shark Tank show, will give you something to chew on.
Herjavec advises us to see the bigger picture rather than settling for “being profitable.” He recommends not to be the guy on the corner selling hotdogs but be the guy who sells hotdogs to all the guys on all the corners selling hotdogs.
Always think in terms of scale. If we settle for being the guy on the corner selling hotdogs, we will limit our influence in the community around us. If we figure out ways to sell hotdogs to all the guys on the corner selling hotdogs, we will have widened our stakeholder net to include a lot more people. May you have opportunities to do just this, and may the LORD bless your efforts to be a blessing to your host community!
OPEN USA supports workers in the 10/40 Window, who are doing Business for Transformation. This author’s identifying information has been withheld due to security reasons. To learn more about OPEN USA and B4T, visit Find Yourself in B4T.