Is owning a business like running a marathon?

If you can run a marathon you understand owning a business.

A few years ago I was responsible for a team of sales people to help them grow
their businesses and I went to a training to better my ability with developing
a strong sales force. There the leader of the class said, “If you can run a
marathon you understand what it is like to be in sales.” Well prior to that
position I had never done sales nor had I run a marathon so I took her advice
literally and now 5 years later I recently completed my 5th marathon.

Now I am not saying go out and run a marathon, and I don’t think she was
either, but it was the analogy behind accomplishing what seems to be an
unattainable goal. We can apply marathon training to owning a business all day
long. We have our business plan which is our training schedule and each day
have to accomplish small goals to get to the record breaking year in sales or
in my case 26.2 miles!

Each year you tweak your training schedule and adjust your runs to obtain a
faster time or reach higher sales year after year. Sometimes you battle
injury, sometimes you have off races but in the end you are focused on a goal.

You own a retail store. Do you have your training schedule in place for the
year? Have you looked at it to hold yourself accountable? Owning a business
is like running a marathon you have to stick to the plan and just keep going.
Challenge yourself to do the things you need to do in order to have the things
you want to have in the future.

Since starting running I have continued to surround myself with other athletes
to push myself and to hold myself accountable. abcReps.com has strong
retailers purchasing through the site. I encourage you all to reach past just
ordering with us and use our Facebook page as area to share ideas, products you
feel sell well and those you feel don’t. Become a support system in a somewhat
lonely world!

Congratulations to you all for being in this business! Now dust off the
training log and start to hold yourself to your dreams.