Nature is an open encyclopedia for entrepreneurs. A carrot, an egg and coffee beans teach us three aspects related to the entrepreneurial spirit.
Starting a business always tests you and your startup will always demand the best of you, because it can also bring out the worst.
Your entrepreneurship works like a mirror where you reflect yourself without errors. In the day-to-day business you see how much faith, confidence, self-esteem, professionalism, passion, fears and doubts you have.
As we have been talking about every week, do not listen to the “stars” of the entrepreneurial ecosystem who share “siren songs” with you. They are like a new age entrepreneur manual where it seems that setting up a company, getting investment and selling it for millions is as easy as tying your shoelaces.
From Emprendedores.News We always tell you both sides of the coin; so that you can make your own decision without any other models than yourself. Without false expectations; without colored mirrors…. You decide if you want to be a carrot, egg or coffee, like in the following story:
“A daughter was complaining to her father about her life and how difficult things were for her. She didn’t know how to move forward and she believed she would give up. She was tired of fighting. It seemed that when she solved one problem, another appeared.
Her father, a chef, took her to his workplace. There she filled three pots with water and placed them over high heat. Soon the water in the three pots was boiling. In one she placed carrots, in another she placed eggs and in the last she placed coffee beans. She let them boil without saying a word.
The daughter waited impatiently, wondering what her father was doing. After twenty minutes the father put out the fire. He took out the carrots and placed them in a bowl. He took out the eggs and placed them on another plate. Finally, he strained the coffee and put it in a third container. Looking at his daughter he said:
– «Dear, what do you see?»
-“Carrots, eggs and coffee” was his response.
He made her come closer and asked her to touch the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. She then asked him to take an egg and break it. After removing the shell from it, she looked at the hard-boiled egg. She then asked him to try the coffee. She smiled as she enjoyed the rich aroma of it.
Humbly the daughter asked:
“What does this mean, father?”
He explained that the three elements had faced the same adversity: boiling water, but had reacted differently. The carrot arrive to the water strong, solid; but after passing through the boiling water it had become weak, easy to break. The egg had reached the water fragile, its thin shell protecting its liquid interior; but after being in boiling water, its interior had hardened. The coffee beans however were unique; after being in boiling water, they had switched to water.
“- Which one are you?” he asked his daughter. «When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?
Are you a carrot that seems strong but when adversity and pain touches you, you become weak and lose your strength?
Are you an egg, which starts with a malleable heart? Did you have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a separation, or a layoff have you become hard and rigid? On the outside you look the same, but are you bitter and harsh, with a hardened spirit and heart?
Or are you like a coffee bean? Coffee changes boiling water, the element that causes pain. When the water reaches the boiling point, the coffee reaches its best flavor. If you are like the coffee bean, when things get worse you react better and make things around you better.”
Happy week, happy endeavors, happy life to all.
Marcelo Berenstein
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