by Geri Seiberling

New growth is so beautiful. After the long gray winter, I soak up the chartreuse green like the ground soaks up the spring rain. It is so refreshing to my spirit!

I don’t know about you, but I’m all too happy to pull into the lawn and garden center to invite some real color back into my gray world. I may not be able to scientifically explain the process, but I understand what a seed can do. But how often do we think about what is really happening when we put these little power packs into the ground? They certainly don’t look like much. Some seeds are so indiscriminate that you wouldn’t know it was a seed, apart from the envelope it comes in. And we would never know that a certain black pod holds genetics for a specific shade of cerulean blue. I can barely wrap my head around it. All I have to do is subject this little package to minerals, darkness, warmth, and water. And wah-lah. Miraculously, the sleeping life wakes up. A miniature transformer, the seed sprout pushes the earth out of its way, driving both downward and upward, both dependent and autonomous at the same time. It risks itself to the environment, come what may.

What does this have to do with business? Everything. Every day you have ideas. True entrepreneurs have more ideas than they know what to do with. Granted, some ideas are power packs that are worth planting, and others are duds. I hope you are at least keeping a file so at the right moment, you can plant your ideas and give them a chance to transform.  Come what may.

Now think about the transformation of any creature- take a lobster for instance. If it is going to grow, it has to subject itself to risk as well. Things that are alive, have to grow.  If it stays in the confines of the old shell, it would die from the pressure. It must crawl out. The only real chance for survival is if it takes a B.H.A.R.       A Big. Hairy. Audacious. Risk. It must become totally defenseless. And there it is. Pink. Frightened. Lunch. But it most certainly will die if it stays in the shell.

Maybe your business does not look like much right now. Take heart. That in itself does not mean it does not have potential. Hidden inside the heart of every beautiful entrepreneur is a very beautiful idea. Maybe you are learning new things, pushing yourself into scary places. Good for you! Growth is often quite messy. So go ahead. Plant your seeds. Crawl out of your shell. Come what may. Vulnerability is the price of real growth.