In my adult life, I have never crossed the border to another country. I have never had the experience of dealing with border patrol as I was leaving or returning to the USA. But today as I entered into California I came to an “inspection station.” I was wondering what they were inspecting as they just waved me through; they waved many others through also.
When traveling the southern part of the USA you come across these border patrol checkpoints even inside the US borders. They ask you if you are a US citizen and since I am, the answer is always, “Yes.” For those who are not, I’m sure there are some additional things that they are asked and papers that must be presented. It’s very similar, I’m sure, when we Americans enter another country, to make sure we are allowed to be there.
So many people want to go along in business and not face anything that is a hold-up; they want to not have to deal with issues that could change their schedule in life or their business plans.
The idea with the inspection station that I passed through was to check for pests and bugs that may enter with fruit from outside California. This is to keep foreign pests from entering and affecting the agriculture industry in California.
So many times we are not sure what we are dealing with; we watch as someone does a very poor job, they give a far less adequate performance than is needed to build success in their business.
I was thinking as I watched many people just stop and then be waved on at this check point. How much are those five people in the booths being paid to just wave people past? How much was the cost to run that building, to set it up? Could this expense be removed? Did it serve a purpose?
Now, I found out what they do by asking someone who lives in California when I was at the hotel bar tonight. They told me what the purpose was and what they are looking for. While at the moment of passing I thought it was not a needed service they were providing, when talking about it, they actually have a big job to perform. Agriculture is crucial to California’s economy and anything that could threaten it is very serious.
So how important is your business? What problem do you solve in this world? And are you solving that problem the best you can? In this week of road trippin’, many would say, “Sounds like you are just out having fun.” Actually, I made the trip to California for a purpose: to attend the RockStar Entrepreneur Conference. I will also have some meetings and continue focus on the problems I am trying to solve in the entrepreneur world.
I want to leave you with this challenge today: what problem are you solving with your business? As an entrepreneur, if you are not solving some problem and can provide a solution, you will not be in business long. I would love your comments on how you solve a problem. Share your 30-second commercial in the comment section to tell me the problems you solve and how you solve them.
I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, find what you love to do and become highly profitable doing it. Are you ready to make changes to rock your 2013?
