Brief Overview

From $1,416 to millions. In this episode I take a look back on the almost laughable start that ultimately led to massive progress for our non-profit.

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Backstory

So picture this, I’m sitting with my wife and we’re having a discussion. And she shared some numbers with me and immediately my reaction was, “Wow, wow, wow hold up. Say that again.” She said, “In our first year we did $1,416 and this year we are just shy of $1 million.” And I was like, “Holy cow!”

It’s amazing when you take a step back and you look at the progress that you have made in your business. Now, let me give you some context here. This was actually not a discussion about my business or my wife’s business. This was a discussion about our charity.

In the very first year that we ran our non-profit, Village Impact (formally World Teacher Aid), we raised a whopping $1,416 – which didn’t feel like much. We really wanted to have this huge impact and we’re not exactly going to have it with $1,416.

But fast forward to today and things are much different. We were reviewing our books from last year and we were looking at the progress that we’ve made. Last year alone we came in just shy of $1 million. And when you cumulatively look at what we’ve raised as an organization, it is in multiple millions of dollars.

Big Idea

The Importance of Looking Back at Your Progress [03:11]

We started thinking about all of these big plans. It started to feel overwhelming because we began to compare where we were now to where we wanted to be – and there was a HUGE gap. When you look forward it can feel discouraging. But what I want you to do right now is to take a minute today and look back. I want you to look back at the progress that you’ve made.

Too often as driven entrepreneurs, we’ve got our heads down and we’re completely focussed on what’s in front of us. We’re go, go, go! It can create this feeling of anxiety and overwhelm. But when you look back it will actually do the opposite. It can create a sense of confidence – a “holy cow” moment where you realize the crazy surmounting odds that you’ve overcome.

Take a look back and just soak in the progress that you have made. Look at how far you have come and it will help to create a sense of confidence. Look back a year ago, three years ago, five years ago… Where were you then and what were you doing?

So my friends if you’ve got big projects, if you’ve got big plans, if you’ve got big ideas for what you want to do and it’s feeling overwhelming, I want you to do one thing… Take a minute look back!

Memorable Quote

“You’ve already learned so many things. You have found a way to figure it out. If you’ve got big ideas for what you want to do and it’s feeling overwhelming, take a minute and look back at your progress. It can create a sense of confidence – a ‘holy cow’ moment where you realize the crazy surmounting odds that you’ve already overcome.” – Stu McLaren

Resources

Village Impact

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