I can think of few activities that are more filled with hope than planting a garden. Seeds are the weirdest little things. They are little power packs of potential. They come in all shapes and sizes and transform themselves into all shapes and sizes and varieties of life. When we buy a little packet of seeds at the garden center, we rarely imagine we have just purchased a little bag of miracles. But that is exactly what they are. How a seed can lie dormant for so long, and then under the right conditions, transform itself into something completely different, few can understand. It grows into all it was destined to be, just as all seeds have been doing for a hundred million years. We take them so for granted, deeming them a common everyday variety sort of miracle. But there are no common miracles.

Startups are the seeds of our economy. Entrepreneurs are also little power packs full of potential. They are also are a far cry in the beginning from what they will become in the end. Yet it is no less a miracle of transformation, and it is not common. Subject an entrepreneur to the right environmental conditions, and they will also become all they were destined to be. The only difference between a seed and an entrepreneur is that the seed knows what it is supposed to be right from the start. Entrepreneurs are not as fortunate. How nice it would be if we were all dropped out of the package with a picture on the front, showing us what we are supposed to look like in the end. Instead, small businesses are formed on the fly. We may have an imaginary picture in our heads, but reality is very different. We are formed partly by our intent, partly by the environment, and partly by the feedback. It is a surprise to many small business owners that the creative work of growing is never really over. Healthy small businesses are always transforming. The successful Small Business is always a work in progress, and the road to success is never a straight line. The trick is to remain flexible. Small business owners who roll with the change and use it to innovate, transform themselves into something they never dreamed they could be.

Is your small business still in the seed stage? Do not assume that the outcome will be exactly as shown on the outside of your seed packet. And do not be taken back if the environment is not as welcoming as you had hoped. Remember some seeds only germinate in the aftermath of forest fires. Our future should be flexible enough to be transformed by market conditions, by our customers, and by our environment. The flexible entrepreneur will benefit under pressure and will be better prepared to transform these pressures into opportunities, making their business stronger and better than originally planned.

Go ahead and envision the oak in your acorn. It is an excellent and hopeful thing to do. But should the environment not take you there, do not be afraid to become a different kind of tree. It may be a better one than you originally planted.