Are You Truly Committed To Your Work?

This week we celebrate the birthday of one of the world's most famous authors. Charles Dickens was born in 1812, growing up and writing during England's Victorian era. The characters he created remain some of the most familiar literary characters in the world.

I've been thinking about Dickens because I've worked with a few small business owners in my "Business Vision Breakthough" private sessions who remind me of him. They come from families who are not wealthy or even very successful, so it's sometimes hard for these clients to think of themselves as having the potential for success. Dickens didn't just come from a "nowhere" background - his father spent time in one of England's most famous debtor's prisons, and Dickens was farmed out to live with a family friend. Dickens went to work pasting labels on shoe polish, spending 10 hours a day as a child working to pay for his food. Even after his father got out of debtor's prison, financial success was elusive.

Like many of today's entrepreneurs, Dickens was impressionable and soaked up the experiences and people of his childhood, many of whom live on today as characters in his very famous books. And just like today's entrepreneurs, when Dickens began to have success as a writer, he sold his stories as serials even though he didn't yet have the next part of the serial written. He learned to "fly the front while building the back end" just as many successful entrepreneurs do today.

You are a Charles Dickens entrepreneur if:
* You come from a family who was not financially well off when you were a child.

* You worked doing chores while you were raised, and had your first job working for someone else pretty early on.

* You soak up people's stories and your experiences in life easily, and use pieces of your past to create your future.

* You worked for someone else even as you were learning on the side the knowledge you needed to create your own future.

* You have a vision that is rich, detailed, and easy for you to tap into and work from.

Charles Dickens made use of all of his past as he spun his now-famous stories. If, like Dickens, your vision for yourself and your business is strong and rich, count yourself lucky. What you create can also serve the world for years to come.