It’s not about Money. Patience is your most important asset.

The past few months have been very challenging since I have not brought my business where I want it to be and assuring myself that I have to trust my gut feeling can get complicated when you have a family to feed and bills to pay and the Money is just not coming in.

It’s not about Money; Patience is your most important asset.

On the other side it is easy to give up when you are not seeing results quickly but over time and after running my own business over the past 3-½ years I have learned that Patience is an asset that can be lost easily. Patience most be nurtured every day. I have been working on it seems I like to react when my intuition tells me something is wrong. I also like to make on spot corrections where I see a fault but this can drain you of energy especially when you are around people that don’t truly want to better themselves or the environment around them.

I had the opportunity the previous march to meet Gary Vaynerchuk at SXSWi and talk with him for a few minutes at the Samsung Bloggers Lounge. I also got a signed copy of his book Thank You Economy and out of the many interesting successful people I have met I have to say he is one the few, that just like my good friend Chris Brogan, you can feel he cares about others.

Last night looking at my Google Plus I found this video Gary shared where I agree on many of this thoughts when it comes to being in entrepreneurial mindset.

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The past week has been evidence of what I really believe in and Gary is speaking about very clearly in the previous video. I find it curious how Gary created this video based on all the emails he received of questions entrepreneurs ask him so they can move on and be successful. If you watch the video I interpreted how Gary breaks down his advice in a very practical way.

Confidence

You need to be confident of what you are doing and go with your gut feeling. Like Gary said there is no Lost in Going for it.

Many years ago when I was in the Army Reserve Drill Sergeant school during the second phase I had one of my instructors who clearly called me out and her words pretty much changed how I approached life from that moment off.

Drill Sgt. Instructor Deb Hancock congratulated me on doing an awesome job at the task at hand but seconds later told me that I needed to adjust the way I reacted because I was so confident in everything I did that other people where perceiving it as if I was cocky.

Reality was that everything I do I give it my best and at that moment although I had lost my interest in being in the Military I was still giving it my best when others where just dragging their feet and calling me out because I was celebrating my wins. I thank Deb Hancock for giving me such great advice which I have applied since and almost 8 years later I keep it in the back of my head to control how I show my passion (I am still working on it) towards everything I get involved in.

Thick Skin

At that time remember I was 23 and a lot younger than most of the folks training with me. For some reason that made me celebrate what I had accomplished in a wrong way. Like Gary states in the video we evolve and get better, when I was 23 and younger I was clearly concerned on what others would think of me. Over the years I have gotten better on staying focused on the tasks at hand. I also have situations where I might lose track and I have Lucy (@lucymfel) and friends that remind me that I need to keep working on my goals.

Working Your ASS Off

I work ridiculous hours and many people might think I am crazy. Some might even go to the extreme of telling me I am not enjoying my life. In that case I don’t care because it is in my genetics.  Two of my brothers (Luis and Javier -@javierrcolon), My dad (Don Tito), my Uncle’s (Tito and Rey), my best childhood friend Alex, and other good friends like Moises and Rick also work very long hours.  I never see them complaining about missing out on a party, working on a Friday night, or missing out on a holiday. I usually see the opposite in them talking about the next thing they will be working on.

I surround myself around people that are constantly creating and working towards their goals. In my case my normal weeks involve at least working 70 hours when many think they did a full week with 40 hours. Yes I would love to work only 40 hours but when I am not getting the results I want I have to work at lot harder at it.

So if you think that working hard for 70 hours a week is not living life take a look at the people around you that work fewer hours and are always complaining on how crappy their job and life is.

Sticking To It

I have had a tough 2011 and the past few months have been harder.  My hardest job is keeping myself focused even when I am not able to see results.  It takes lots of patience and discipline to keep on going when things in the surface don’t look right. A few months ago I was invited by Joe Sorge (@joesorge), someone I consider to be very successful business owner, to the Kitchen Table Talks show. He wanted me to talk about how I Stick with Things and don’t give up. People like Joe and my other good friend and business partner Rob Hatch @robhatch remind me that sticking with will pay off in the long run.

Celebrating and Sharing Results

This past week I have seen results on many aspects. I was able to land a sponsorship (I will be mentioning the sponsor soon) to go to SXSWi in helping me cover the cost of the Badge, Airfare, and a few other expenses. I still have a few more sponsor packages if anyone is interested in supporting my trip feel free to reach out.

My team and business partners at Human Business Works are in the process of closing and winning a project in Europe helping some folks with Social and Online presence. I have also gotten many replies from a few leads that seem to want my help on a few other projects.

As I am finally seeing the results of the many weeks of hard work, I take the opportunity to thank each and everyone of you that has kept my spirits up by supporting me in many ways (saying hi, sharing a post, commenting on a post, or just sending us good vibes).

What things are going well on your side make sure you celebrate each and every win (no matter how small it is)?

How can you lose the fear in loosing and come out swinging in spirits to hit a home run?