What sacrifice are you willing to make today to help you succeed tomorrow?

At some point this spring I am having surgery to correct some physical abnormalities that will have a profound impact on my health going forward. The procedure is not fun, and the recovery is worse. Two weeks of excruciating pain followed by two more weeks of slow recovery, followed by 4 months of getting used to the new me.

I spent most of last night reading reports online of how bad those first two weeks are, a true living nightmare by everyone who experienced it. Yeah, it’s scary.

But what is two weeks compared to 6 decades?

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has proposed sweeping changes in the business tax structure in Michigan. In the short term, it’s going to hurt. But it is necessary to the long term health of the State.

I just posed the same scenario to one of my major vendors. I showed them how their current practices, while profitable now, would hurt them long term and gave them some suggestions on how to fix those problems. The fix will hurt them short term. But it won’t hurt nearly as much as going out of business will.

You have this problem in your business, too. There is a change you need to make. You don’t want to, because you know it’s going to hurt in the short term.

But ask yourself this question… How long do you want to be in business?

Kinda puts it all into perspective, doesn’t it?

Go ahead and make the changes you need to make. You already know how it’s going to work out in the long run. You’ll get done. Everything will be okay. And you’ll wish you had done it a whole lot earlier.

-Phil