No Victims Here!

Credit: Tiffany Fox

I took a call last week from a saleslady that is really struggling. She explained that she is fighting price and an unresponsive employer. Her perspective is that if her company could get things right she could sell millions.

To be fair, I've never been inside of her company. She could be right. I can't say with authority that her employer deserves her employment. Perhaps it's true that her problems are 100% the fault of the printer she works for.

I have never found that to be so, however. I've seen plenty of companies and CEOs that were in their own way. I'll write about that another time. But, I've never seen a struggling rep that didn't create at least half of their own problems.

LET ME OFFER SOME PERSPECTIVE!

I've been privileged to spend my life with a genuine hero. She's an inspiration. She came up hard (single parent home, government projects, welfare, a minority in school).

But she never made an excuse. She never complained that things weren't fair. Not a moment was lost to self pity or woe is me thinking.

She put herself through college on work study programs and academic scholarships. She was frugal and graduated with money in the bank. She did so in four years.

When she decided to have a family she resigned her position (VP of the company now known as Bank of America) and poured her life into her children. She started a business she could run from home and balanced motherhood, being a wife and businesswoman like a pro. She is a pro.

I have to share that she was successful at each of these things because she took ownership. She didn't make excuses. She always said, "if it is to be it's up to me." This is how she put distance between herself and the chronic complainers.

Now there is nothing new about what she calls "victimitus." It's been around for centuries. Those that complain have no grasp of those that won't.

But these days excuse making has become an honorable society. We call those that DO privileged or greedy and those that WON'T disadvantaged. This is a mistake and it isn't going to end well.

If you follow me you know that many of my posts come back to the same thing. "Look In The Mirror." That is where your answers are. I'm 100% convinced of this fact.

If you're not happy in your employment, move on. You're selling your life for dollars. Invest your time in pursuits you love. It's your responsibility to make success happen.

Excuses are for losers! The woman that turned poverty into what many call privilege never made any! That is how you win in life and business.