"When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."
As I sat back in bed to write this installment of the New Power Girls tonight, I wondered who might have first said that common saying above. Growing up, every time I heard it, it sounded like one of those cheer leading things people say to make you feel better when things are going bad. But more and more in your adulthood you find that it's kind of true. You've got to navigate and try to make a good outcome when things go the wrong direction in any area of life. In other words, make lemonade.
I got to thinking about this tonight as I thought about my current startup, 9. 9's two years old and if all goes well, will cash out why it was created in the first place within the next few months. I had launched 9 somewhat unexpectedly -- it was always in the plan to launch something new. I'm a serial entrepreneur and that's my job. But I thought it'd come later in the year than it had. In a way, life handed me lemons. 9 in a sense was the juice I squeezed out of it.
More and more I keep meeting and hearing about people who have lost work or have been displaced by their market dying. Time and time again, they say they don't know what to do, and the first thing that comes to mind are all the ways that they can make lemonade. A lot of Americans are probably in this very same spot. I have met so many entrepreneurs who became entrepreneurs out of what actually was some type of inconvenience -- a job/career that didn't allow time for children, divorces, lay offs, you name it.
Americans might be thrown a lot of curve balls, but somehow we as a nation and people keep swinging the bat regardless.
The world has changed and is continuing to change, but it isn't necessarily bleak. The media just likes to make things as dramatic or sensational as possible because it's like the snake oil salesman shaking the rattle. Technology might be replacing and displacing people, but just the same it is creating new opportunities that anybody can learn and benefit from. There are countless examples. In fact, because so much of it is so early, those who can jump in may very likely find themselves cashing out in a bigger way down the road. It's more than possible to teach an 'old dog new tricks' -- ie, people can learn new skills and jobs at any age if only they're willing to lift the preconceived (and often false) idea that they can not.
McDonald's founder was fairly old when he created the first restaurant. The author of Harry Potter wasn't a 25 year old.
I'm constantly amazed and surprised at the resiliency of people in general. It's without question something that I see a lot among the new modern women in business that I've met and know. After all, America was a boot strapped start up in many ways itself when it was born. I realize as I write this, the sooner that we can all get a grip and move on from whatever is causing trouble, be it the economy or whatever issues might go on in our lives, both as a nation and as individuals, the better off we are. Most of all, it is absolutely possible and in fact, may be just what you needed to get ahead and live better than you ever had before.
Power Girls don't stare at the lemons in life -- we look for the juice instead.