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Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a clever man.  For this story, we will call him Jason.  ;-)

Jason lived on the outskirts of a small village called Lemmingsville, which was right in the middle of a huge forest.  People living outside of the village, would affectionately refer to the villagers as ‘Lemmings’.

To help make ends meet and pay for food and provisions, the Lemmings would sell wood gathered from the forest.  Every weekday, the men, women and children (it was a whole family thing) would go deeper into the forest, and collect as much wood as they could carry.

Then on Saturdays, each family got all their wood together, and carried it 2 miles on foot to a local sawmill.  The owner of the sawmill would pay them in cash, and this arrangement had been going on for many generations.

Obviously, carrying all this heavy wood was very exhausting.  Because they were on foot, and could only carry so much, each family had to make 3 or 4 trips to transport everything.

There would be a constant flow of Lemmings going back and forth to the sawmill every Saturday, from dawn till dusk.  Sunday was their day of rest.

That Won’t Work, Because We’ve
 Always Done Things This Way…

One day, Jason had a business idea. 

Jason told the other Lemmings that he was going to build something, to help him carry the wood to the sawmill.  The Lemmings laughed, and told Jason that he had lost his mind.

Undeterred, Jason set to work immediately, and dedicated himself to creating his new project, night and day. Because of this, he didn’t have time to gather wood from the forest, so he wasn’t earning any money. 

Jason made sure his son Ben didn’t go without food, by using the little bit of money he had saved up, but it was a tough time. 

Every Saturday, the Lemmings would pass Jason’s house while he was hard at work.  “Why are you wasting your time?” they would shout.  “We have been doing things this way for many years. You are a fool!” 

There’s no denying that Jason found these comments very hurtful, but he had a vision, and was determined to see his idea through to the end.  He would keep saying to himself out loud: “I’m not going to give up!”

Then 4 weeks later it was finished!  Jason was very tired, but hopefully it was worth it.

On Saturday morning the Lemmings gathered round, as Jason prepared to unveil his new project.  They thought it would be fun to see what he’d wasted all this time building.  And it would also give them something to gossip about, as they walked back and forth to the sawmill throughout the day.

They Were In For a Huge Shock!

As Jason pulled back the large sheet, everyone stared up at this big square shaped box, sitting on top of two wheels, with two other long pieces of wood at the front.

“What’s that?” the Lemmings sniggered.

Jason called this big box a ‘cart’, and proceeded to explain how he would attach his cart to a horse, so that it could be pulled along. 

He was going to load up the cart with his wood every Saturday, and take it to the sawmill.  It would make it so much easier to transport the wood, and it would mean that Jason only had to make one trip. 

To the sawmill and back in an hour, instead of the gruelling 3 or 4 trips by foot, which took all day every Saturday.

The Lemmings stood captivated; as Jason showed them how much wood his cart could carry.

For just a small fee for each family, Jason offered to transport all their wood to the sawmill for them. The Lemmings were very quick to catch on this time, and were literally falling over themselves to sign up to the deal.

Life for the villagers in Lemmingsville was transformed, everyone was happy. 

The Lemmings no longer had to work on Saturday’s.

Jason made enough money from transporting everyone else’s wood; that he didn’t have to gather any himself during the week. 

All the hard work, determination and perseverance had paid off.  He was now earning more money, but also had a lot more time to spend with his son Ben!

What Can You Learn From This Story…

Alright, this was a fairy tale, but I hope you get the point I was trying to make.

You will often look at situations yourself, or be told by others, that certain things are always done a particular way.  There’s no point in doing it differently, because: “This is how it’s always been done”. “This is what works.”

Whilst this may be true, it doesn’t mean that it is the ‘best’, or the ‘only’ way to do things.  Don’t be afraid to give new methods a try.  I’m not saying that you should risk everything on an unproven strategy, as that would be stupid.  But if you’ve done your research, and you think something is worth testing, give it a go.

One very good thing to do, is to look at what works in one industry or type of business, and see if you can do the same thing or similar, in a completely different market. 

When you are trying to get a new project off the ground, you may have to endure some form of sacrifice.  It comes with the territory.

If you want to succeed you have to accept this, and be prepared to go that extra mile, put in the extra hours, invest some money, go without a few, or even ‘all’ luxuries for a while.

Wishing you success,

 Jason Lewis