My baby is ill. H is ill. And I am on a train heading to London Euston. I am trying not to cry about it but I do feel somewhat depressed. (O, please God, help her to get better!)
What am I doing on a train, heading away from my baby?
I am on my way to gain knowledge that will help me develop and grow my business. I am also hoping to make some friends that are on the same path as me, greasing the wheels of my journey. Networking is what it is called in business circles but today, for me it is more than that. Anything shared is halved, I believe. I am hoping to find people to work with, in a mutually beneficial way. I am choosing to get information from people who have walked before me and I have paid what is to me, a considerable sum for this privilege.
In some church arenas, the phrase – Lets make their ceiling, our floor – is used to describe what I am doing today. I do not necessarily believe that this is completely possible as I feel that each person must walk through the same or similar valleys in order to really appreciate the view at the top. We all must make our own mistakes and that in itself is a learning experience. However when mentored by people ahead of us in the journey, we do not have to take so long to figure out a better path. You can learn to recognize when you may have gone off on a tangent a lot quicker if surrounded by more knowledgeable people.
I figure I spent four years in higher education studying all the various subjects surrounding the practice of Pharmacy and then, one year training under a tutor in the field before finally being let loose on the population. So what makes me think I can go from knowing nothing about property to having a successful business in property. I suppose I once bought a house though I no longer own this, for reasons I may share later. The following were the steps involved
- You look at pretty pictures on the net
- Then you go into an estate agent(s)
- You go and view the house
- You fall in love with a house
- You make an offer
- You get accepted
- You get cornered by the mortgage broker at said estate agent
- You apply for a mortgage (unless you are rich, of course)
- Other things happen: I am not completely certain what but it involves solicitors, surveyors and banks.
- You sign lots of paperwork
- And finally assuming all the long winding steps work, you move into a home, warts and all
Ok, I am sure that buying property even for a business is vaguely the same but there are many questions as to how to raise finance, how to buy property as cheaply as possible, how to manage tenants, how to … who knows what? The truth is you do not know what you do not know! So here I am, going to learn all that I know nothing about and mix with people who do this for a living.
But, the real reason I am doing this: I want a different life for my family, I want V, E and H to think differently, to live differently and we – Tloml and I – are the ones to teach them but how can I teach what I have not learnt myself?
So – here’s to learning and all it entails.
(Please Lord, make my baby well)
“You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you are going, ‘cause you might not get there”
Yogi Berra
