It’s Monday, Step ONE: Get OFF Your ASS day here at Shoestring101…

And for today’s post I thought I would remind you of the value of getting off it, and staying off it. Even when it might be more comfortable to sit down. As a budding “Bizness” owner in my teens, the decision I made ONE day set events on a path to success. That same day might have been the day to doom me to failure.

Steppers, this post may not seem to have a whole lot to do with content marketing, blogging, traffic, or how to start a “Bizness” on a Shoestring. But it contains a principle without which YOUR Bizness, whether it’s online or offline… WILL ABSOLUTELY FAIL. So ya might wanna perk up a sec and pay attention.

Read on:

A Boyhood Dream Come True

IN 1986, I was walking around alone in my little makeshift dojo (martial arts studio) that I had started earlier that year  at the age of eighteen. My canvas uniform had been pressed. I was warmed up, throwing powerful kicks over my head and swinging a bo (a staff about five and a half feet long) around my neck, striking imaginary foes with precisely controlled timing.

It was a few minutes before class was due to begin and I wanted to look sharp.

Eighteen years of age sounds a bit young to be running your own business… and it was. But don’t get me wrong, I didn’t do it all by myself. I had quite a bit of help from my own instructor getting the place established. It was located in a shopping mall next to Sears, good for traffic. My instructor had come for a number of weeks to help me do demonstrations, drum up interest, and sign folks up for introductory programs.

The “Dream”… Becomes a Nightmare

But the initial excitement had worn off. We had had about fifteen  Students come for introductory classes from the get-go, but numbers dwindled more and more as I was left to completely take the helm.

As if that wasn’t discouraging enough, for his last class a young man asked, “My mom wants to know when the real instructor is coming back?” He was referring, of course, to my absent mentor who had left me in charge.

So here I was walking around alone… in an empty space that I was on the hook for rent-wise… with no Students and no prospects.

Owning a martial arts studio had been my dream since I ‘got serious’ about my training about six years previously, but it looked like my dojo was headed nowhere fast. I would be obligated to pay about twice in commercial rent what I was paying for a little one-bedroom apartment, and even that was a stretch at the time.

It was Tuesday night, April 1st and the joke was on me: Class starts at 6:30 pm. It was 6:40 and nary a soul had darkened the door.

A Tipping Point

Disheartened, I grabbed my bag and headed for the dressing room. Tonight was a good night to take off, I guess. I was gonna head

Tanner Van Bebber – A THIRD Generation Freedom School Black Belt. Glad I didn’t quit!

home and watch Starsearch, the 80’s version of America’s Got Talent. Sigh…

Then I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

And thought, “It’s class time… time that YOU have set aside for practicing martial arts. If YOU’RE not excited about and committed and to your training, how can you expect anyone ELSE to be?”

So I set down the bag, and began practicing my kata, a performed sequence of moves. Kind of a library of motion.

I got lost in the moment, working to develop greater precision, focus and athleticism. At first I didn’t even notice the curious fella that stuck his head in the door. His name was Joe Gardino.

“Hey, whatcha doin’ in here?”

     “Martial arts. Do you train?”

“Nope. But always wanted to.”

Joe became my first black belt. Six years later I was helping him to establish his own martial arts studio. He would be the first of over two dozen Students that I helped get to black belt, several of which went on to open their own studios as well.

The Impact of One Single Decision NOT to Quit

I often wonder about that night over 27 years ago. I know that if I had gone home, if I had missed that opportunity and not met an eager Student like Joe… I might not have had a compelling reason to stay enthusiastic about teaching.

Without enthusiasm, I would not have attracted many more Students.

The  rent I was paying (DOUBLE the rent of my apartment!) would have eventually forced me to close the studio.

If I had closed the studio, I would not have met about a couple thousand people over the next twenty-some years, not had speaking engagements, not have had a positive influence on the lives of countless families.

My kids grew up thinking that their Dad was a celebrity. Because I can’t go anywhere public in Colorado Springs and NOT get stopped by someone I used to teach. I’m not tooting my own horn here, just stating a fact: when you stay persistent at doing ONE thing well for long enough, it makes a difference to a lot of people. And they remember. And it comes back around…

My “fame” was a serious help when I began dating my wife Sabrina. Imagine the social proof when we got approached in every coffee shop or restaurant I took her to… by a former Student or parent of a Student. And they talked Sabrina’s ear off about how they still use lessons they learned in my class. Heh- hard to pay for that kind of endorsement 😉

What if I Hadn’t Stayed in Bizness?

If I had lost heart that night over two decades ago, I might never have gotten to meet and to train some of the best people I’ve ever known.

There might have even been deadly consequences…

One lady that I taught, fought off an attacker at 1:00am outside a gas station.

Another found the strength to testify against a criminal that was menacing her.

A woman in an abusive relationship ended up breaking her tormentor’s leg before dumping the guy and getting him out of her life.

A young man I taught saved his own life during a mugging in Costa Rica.

The father of one of my Students got a call from his son, now a Marine pilot serving in the Middle East. He said, “Dad, take Instructor Frankenberg to lunch. I’m alive today because of what he taught me.”

I have oodles and ooooooodles more stories of  Students having remarkable things happen in their lives, because they would not allow themselves to be talked into defeat either.

“What goes around comes around” is only half the story. It comes around in spades.

What’s Missing if Your Passion is Missing? MORE Than You Think!

Remember that quote from that movie, It’s a Wonderful Life? That Christmas movie where the guy almost commits suicide and an angel goes through scenes from his life, and then shows him how without him there at key points in other people’s lives, the world would have been a dreary place for a lot of people? He said something like, “If just one person that matters to someone wasn’t ever there… what an awful hole it leaves.”

I’m not suggesting that it’s necessarily ME that’s responsible for all these wonderful things that happened to these Students. I see the hand of God at work in their lives… I do believe that they were put into a place and time and situation and that He made sure that they got what they needed, when they needed it, from someone. It just happened to be me because I was willing.

It’s not that I believe that I’M so great. These people in my life are great to me. But I never would have met any of them, had I quit that April Fool’s day so long ago. And they wouldn’t have had the tools to influence others either.

Awful big hole.

Any fool can count how many seeds there are in an apple. But only God knows how many apples will come from a seed.

So here’s the message today everyone:

Do. NOT. QUIT!

Whatever you’re about, be about that. Whatever it is that you have to offer, offer it up daily. Work at it, give it, share it, love it, live it… and don’t give up on your dream.

Chances are that what you value greatly, someone else values as well. And NOT sharing what you have to offer could possibly cheat generations out of something really big.

Worst of all, YOU will miss out.

And that would make me sad 🙁

Okay Steppers! That’s today’s GET OFF YOUR ASS message.

If I didn’t inspire you, maybe this will.

But either way, let’s get off top dead center and start making it happen, mmmmkay?

Keep Stepping,

Kurt

P.S. -Hey there Scrollie McScrollington… in case ya got this far and missed it, THIS post was about why it’s so very important not to give up on your passion. Normally I write about blogging, traffic, and starting a “Bizness” with little or no capital. In case ya wanted to read about that stuff instead, browze around this site. Or..! Try these folks that I’m following for more of the same. Their “easter eggs” were placed in the above post, but here they are again:

http://www.kikolani.com (Kristi Hines – Her Cool Blognitude)
http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com (Ana Hoffman – Her Royal Trafficness)
http://www.startupbros.com (Kyle Eschenroeder and Will Mitchell – just a couple of bros with different last names… wazzup with that? But they teach folks how to turn hobbies into real biznesses, just like me so they must be cool 😉 )

You still readin’? We’re at the end! But, hey, I’d just FLIP if you’d leave a comment 🙂