One of the big things I learned from my mentor is to start small. In fact, he says, “Dream big, start small.” Yes, have a great vision. Have a goal is audacious. But before you start catching big fish, you have to start with the small fish. Before you do big deals, do with small deals.
Let me share with you three reasons why:
First, the gift of learning. The beauty of starting small is that it allows you to make mistakes – which is normal at first – and learn big time. And these lessons will prepare you for something that is huge!
When I was starting to become a speaker in 2014, we would organize seminars targeting a sizeable number of participants. We were looking forward to 200, but on the day of the event, only 20 showed up. Nevertheless, I am so thankful for those 20 people. They have prepared me to speak to 200 people. Because those small audiences allowed me to make some mistakes, test the material that I have, and practice my delivery. And, still striving to be excellent in what I do regardless of the number.
Note: Excellence do not depend on the size of your audience, of an event, or an undertaking.
Second, the gift of humility. Another gift of starting small is the gift of humility. There are those who become so proud because they think they were able to make it quickly with small effort.
Yes, I aspire to speak to thousands but I am thankful that I started to speak to 10, 20, and 30 first. To date, I have spoken to 100, 200 and 300. I haven’t spoken to thousands yet and I am thankful that I haven’t yet. But I am so excited that as I grow in skills, my audiences start to grow as well.
But I shall never discount however small the size of my audience is. Every audience is a gift. Every event is an opportunity to share.
And we shall be reminded that anything that became big started small.
Third, the gift of groundedness. There are people who lose their sense of mind because they want to be big immediately. That’s why people fall into scams because they want to get big immediately. Much worse, they themselves would start scams. Don’t be one of them.
Appreciating the natural process of growth, of planting and harvesting, of simply accelerating growth instead of rushing it is the key to long-term growth and success. That’s the beauty of starting small – you remain grounded. Remember, it’s only at first – because you have big dreams, you have grand visions, you have a higher purpose.
You are simply building a solid foundation of the heavenly heights you are putting up.
So, stop trying to be big immediately. Or you’ll lose big time! Plus, you will also lose the gift of those small wins and tiny mistakes with tons of magnificent lessons you’ll gain as you begin in small ways. You may possibly lose the sense of humility and your sense of mind.
Yes, aspire for greatness. Dream big but start small. It’s ok to be small at first. It’s natural. Start small. And grow your greatness in the process. Soon, the big things will come. By then, you are so ready because you’ve grown so big inside and out!
(Chris Dao-anis, CPA, DTM – as an author, trainer and speaker – shares about leadership, high performance, communication, productivity and personal finance. For talks and trainings, email him at chrisdaoanis@gmail.com or visit his website www.chrisdaoanis.com.)
