155- Entrepreneur and celebrations of birthdays and business milestones

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Struggling Biz Podcast show, we discuss the theme of celebrations of key dates and milestones for your business — and for yourself. Yes, your own celebrations for birthdays or other anniversaries are good treatments and therapy to help you acknowledge your SUCCESS or your STATUS or your ACCOMPLISHMENTS in your small business as an entrepreneur. The inspiration for this type of discussion is because my own personal birthday was celebrated on the second of March — as I have experienced 73 revolutions around the sun.

For this entrepreneur, the key celebrations that I would suggest for you, as a small business owner or startup owner would be the following (and this list is not totally inclusive, as it is solely based on my experience):

your own birthday;
the date you started your own business;
your entrepreneurship anniversary;
if you have a podcast, then the date when your podcast was published with your first episode;
the milestones for your podcast — e.g., downloads or episode numbers (if you want the world to know how prolific you have been with your business podcast);
the milestones for your business that you have set up and recalled — e.g., reaching or surpassing a goal for income or revenue or customers or leads or profit;
the milestones for you in having podcast reviews with the top “best” tags, or with good reviews that praise your business or your skills;
for your podcast, you can celebrate the other podcast shows or episodes that spawned from your initial success in podcasting or video training;
the key or critical training or courses you have taken recently (besides your college 4-year degree and your post-graduate degrees, such as an MBA) to sharpen your skills in your business area or even as a podcaster (e.g., audio or editing courses or podcast publishing and blogging courses);
Recognition you may have gained in your business or your podcasting career (e.g., being inducted into a “Hall of Fame” program in podcasting or your business or, if you are in Education and Academia, you may have been selected for a Hall-of-Fame or such recognition by your University — like the example that I had experienced when one of the faculty of my post-graduate university did receive the Hall of Fame for faculty just right before he passed away in 2018);
any recognition you may have received in your civic duties or your community (e.g., such as awards in organizations like the Elks, the Optimists and other groups that provide benefit to the community);
any recognition or nicknames that you may have received from your audience, your public or your community — key example would be like Adam Curry, who is called the “Podfather” for having helped to develop podcasting, and who also was inducted into the Podcasting Hall of Fame;
and I remember the key plaque and award that was given to me from my students, dance group and class subjects when I taught folklorico dance at the University for over 10 years;
and don’t forget anniversaries or key dates from your possible military career or background (e.g., I will always remember the days when my life was spared from combat hostilities in Vietnam, as well as the date of my return home from Vietnam; and also I remember the key dates of my success in recruiting while in the 82nd Airborne Division in the early 1970s — and finally, my discharge from the Army;
and so on — we could go on and on, but I think you can see the examples and apply others to yourself.

For myself, I have been an entrepreneur since 1980 (when it was not popular at all, and when it was a real challenge to succeed in a world dominated by the corporate job market); and I have had my own careers (however brief they may seem to others) in the military, as well as in Academia, in high tech with over 33 years at IBM as a systems engineer, and a blogger and podcaster and podcasting consultant and a producer of training videos — and a lot more experiences and “careers” in my life.

So thus, for these accomplishments, I am currently putting together a legacy podcast titled THE REAL ACADEMY OF LIFE. And these will be the equivalent of written memoirs or diary elements that can help me to remember the key dates and anniversaries or events that I can review at any time to remind me of my successes and accomplishments — especially when I do need some positive reinforcement in my struggles as an entrepreneur. And this is one type of “closure” from the pains and struggles we go through.

I hope that you, too, can organize your CELEBRATIONS that can be helpful to you — and I hope that these will bring you the positive attitudes you need to continue your success for your business.

Thank you for your attention.