It’s About Time

Sometimes I look at how much money I make and wonder if I should be in business.

But then I remember - a lot of success is about passion. It hit me the other day when I drove by a 4.5 acre open space that is now a town park.

When I was a homeowner, I devoted valuable marketing time to turning this 4.5 acre plot of tax delinquent property into a town park. I met resistance, mostly from the drug dealers who thought all open space, including my property, were for their use.

I put up with getting shot at, having the police tell me that swastikas painted on rocks was not a crime, and town board members tell me the land was the county’s responsibility.

In the end, God sent an angel in the form of a neighbor with connections to the community. We got the town and the county to work out a deal to turn the vacant land into a town park and even a bit of money from a county legislator. I carried petitions for the town board representatives who supported the town park. I even registered five neighbors to vote.

But, I could have been spending that time building my business and making money. I just didn’t. Somehow I always end up with what I need. I am deeply grateful.

Sometimes it would be nice to measure my successes by the size of my client list or my billing hours. But then I ride by that town park and think about how there are no drug dealers. A bit of grass is growing and no garbage has been dumped. That’s major.

It may even qualify for a DEC tree planting. That would be exciting.

There’s no sign. No one living there even remembers my name. I can’t exactly explain why the park is a measure of success in my mind. Maybe because I’m such a poor business woman.