IN IT TO WIN IT!!!

Imagine you’re on a football team with a quest to head to and win the Super Bowl and put your small town on the map once and for all. You’re a new team, a motley crew of talent but not much professional experience. Well how does one get professional experience? No other way than by doing. This new team is your break, because you’re not playing with the Ravens, the Seahawks, the Giants or the Panthers just starting out. But each of them were at one time new teams who had to work themselves up to Super Bowl status. They started off with no more greater talent than the team that you are now on. 

The first thing that this time must begin doing at once is winning. This may mean by starting out beating up on some unheard of lackluster teams who simply don’t take the game and business of football seriously, they just want to have fun. But with them, you can begin learning how to win by just executing some simple and easy tasks like carrying your team’s ball from one end to the other, because the opposing team is not going to get in your way too much. As you begin learning how to win, you can refine that skill with trainings and drills but you build up your confidence with each win. As you grow in your experience you can begin taking on slightly more competitive teams and pick up the skills of strategy by winning and losing some games and studying your approach. You started out with potential, then you picked up experience, then you pick up strategy.

The next and final step is to attain GREATNESS. You do this, by setting you standard above the standard. The other team may be fine with partying late before a game, but OUR team is in bed by 9PM. We eat breakfast better than the other team. We trained the day before harder than the other team. So when we show up on the field, we’ve already beat them weeks before GAME DAY. GAME DAY is only the day we cash the check we’ve already written ourselves and our confidence ensures that we’re good for it.

Now imagine the Super Bowl has come, we show up on the field and we’re looking around for our quarterback. Where is he? You and all who are there have worked hard for this day, sweating gallons, bruising knees, breathing your lungs out, crying from muscle soreness, giving up leisure time with the family and friends. Your wide receivers shows up late and without his gear. How about your coach has not run the plays days before and has no strategy for you?

How we do one thing is how we do everything. The simple steps to winning, showing up, showing up on time and showing up prepared should have been ironed out in those beginning stages while you were still yet some motley crew team, or there would have never been any chance or talk of ever going to the Super Bowl. Super Bowl? Smirk...snicker….giggle...full on guffaw belly laugh. But if starting out with their affairs in order, committed, orderly, diligent and disciplined and infused with purpose as best as they can be in the beginning, it might not be wise to laugh at them or sleep on them. They're coming to eat your lunch.
     

With respect to our team, if we’re not in this to not only make history but to change the course of history for our community, our city and our people nationwide, to finally DO what many have been talking about for generations but never created a plan and much less executed, then what are we doing this for?

I do my best to make this fun for all of us. But, if fun is what you’re in for, there are much better ways to go about having fun. Those teams who are okay with losing are about having fun. Money? There’s lots of it to gain through this, but if we lack the discipline even the guy with the hot dog cart business has when he gets up at 7AM every weekday morning to get ready to catch that lunch hour rush, we’ll never see one iota of a dollar sign with our name on it. If we are in business for the Black LGBT entrepreneur, then let’s in ourselves be the model of excellence for that and not the stereotype; lazy, late, unprepared, unprofessional, and out of stock on everything except for excuses and much attitude. Why many Black businesses fail for a variety of reasons, the business owner him/herself I am sure is the root cause in many situations. Let not us become our own worst liability while we are due for many others to encounter and overcome...and we shall overcome.

Going forward, Champs:
Our meeting schedule has been reset to bi-weekly beginning with this Saturday, March 12th at the College Park library branch at 2PM. If changes are made you will be notified. Our business plan project has now been given to the direction or Harold in conduction our workshops and will be mastered authored by Steven. By then please add your input to Steven’s template and reach out to any of us if you are having trouble locating the document. GO TBP!!!

Because some of us are SURVIVORS! We are at team of warriors.