A Shrewsbury businessman is throwing himself off a building - all in the name of charity. Here Alan Adams, a successful business coach for his business Horizons Consultants and a distributor for The Utility Warehouse shares why he is taking part in the challenge....
No it’s not what you think. Yes, things can be tough sometimes, but as business owners we share some traits with extreme sport enthusiasts.
I was watching a Channel 4 programme called Daredevils: A life on the Edge, where they follow a guy called Danny MacAskill – a YouTube superstar – whose spectacular bike tricks won him fame online. The programme takes Danny to meet other extreme sports stars, to try and find a common denominator that links them all… Is it that they are all simply adrenaline junkies?
Adrenaline junkies?
Ultimately, the programme thought not. It turns out that these guys and girls may have a risk-focused gene that makes them more likely to do these things. It’s not that they don’t feel fear, just that the curiosity and feeling of wanting to push themselves cancels it out.
And that’s all very similar to us as business owners. To start a business you have to overcome that initial fear of being financially responsible for yourself, and in a lot of cases other people.
And then, once you’re in business, it takes real courage and determination to keep going through all the trials and tribulations. It’s absolutely true to say that there’s a Life Cycle of a Business, and I talk about this in-depth in my seminars.
All businesses will go through the same stages regardless of their start-up size, experience, or area of focus. What differs is the speed with which they pass through to contented business ‘adulthood’.
Charity abseil
Anyway, talking of throwing yourself off a building, I’m doing an Abseil off Merit House in London to raise much-needed funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The charity has granted more than 7,400 magical wishes to children and young people across the UK who are living with life-threatening conditions, just look here to see some of the great work that they do. I’d love to raise enough money to make a seriously ill child’s wish come true so please do help if you can spare a few pounds – just visit http://www.justgiving.com/Alan-Adams
Until next time…
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