What the Cornucopia of Abundance taught me about business

Where are you letting the ripe opportunities go by because you cannot manage abundance?

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s the season when we celebrate the abundance of the harvest by bringing our family and friends together for a feast so opulent that we have left overs for a week.

I’ve been busy clearing off the last of the garden harvest that has obscured my dining room table since mid-summer in order to host a Thanksgiving gathering of family and friends.

Baskets of berries, peaches, plums, apples, & pears, bowls of lettuce & beans, buckets of tomatoes & peppers, boxes of squash, sweet potatoes & carrots, bundles of herbs, & coolers filled with chickens, ducks, turkeys, & Cornish hens need to be managed, merged, & moved along throughout the entire season.

I have been deciding what needs to be eaten before it goes bad, what can wait another day, & what could be dried, frozen, refrigerated, or canned for months now.

Hesitation, avoidance, & overwhelm mean wasted product & less good eating throughout the year.

I’ve been growing an abundance of food that allows me to eat from the land every day of the year for more than 20 years.

I’ve also been helping entrepreneurs create bountiful business for more than 30 years.

I’ve learned some important business lessons from managing the abundance.

1. Be grateful for abundance

· I often feel overwhelmed when every surface in my kitchen and dining room are piled high with fruits & veg.

· And I am always grateful for the bounty when I enjoy a slice of home grown cherry pie after a holiday dinner or open a jar of homemade marinara sauce for a quick dinner on a cold January day.

· In order to be truly prosperous, you must learn to manage abundance.

· Staying in the overwhelm of indecision, letting the fruits of your efforts rot on the vine, and complaining when your calendar is bursting at the seams will keep you and your business small.

2. Build your systems for the business you want, not the business you have

· I remember not even having space in my cupboards when I bought a 7-gallon stock pot.

· I quickly learned better systems for partially prepping and freezing tomatoes in the summer and making one large vat of pasta sauce in the winter when I had more time.

· The first customer relationship management system I purchased was easy to use but didn’t have enough dynamic features to help me grow.

· I had to hire an assistant to help me use the comprehensive CRM system I use now, but my business has grown and morphed into an entirely new shape because I can focus on doing more of what I do best.

3. Abundance doesn’t happen without a plan.

· I didn’t suddenly discover plump pumpkins or juicy peaches growing in my garden.

· I made a plan, sketched the garden map, started & transplanted the seedlings, and kept the weeds bay so that plants and trees could thrive in their best possible conditions.

· My business didn’t just grow magically either.

· Each November, I evaluate what worked, what didn’t work, what needs adjustment, & realign with my vision to create the plan for the next year.

· This means identifying 4 to 5 big goals with quarterly, monthly, weekly, & daily benchmarks, projects, & tasks to help me keep the distractions at bay and enjoy the harvest.

Where are you letting the ripe opportunities go by because you cannot manage abundance?

What new system or tool do you need to incorporate now to support your growth?

When your business grows quickly this next year, will you be ready to reap the harvest of your good work?