Do you remember the first time you took the first step in something big? I do, I was eight-years-old. I had watched for many years my cousins showing livestock and I could not wait for my turn to be able to have my own show calf. I worked very hard on my first show heifer and was excited to show her at the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Classic. As show day approached, things started to change. I no longer wanted to show my heifer. Even to the point of when it was my turn to exhibit my heifer I told my parents, “I can’t do this. Why can’t Blake show her for me?” Blake was my eighteen-year-old cousin who had just won the Nebraska State Fair that previous year. My parents wouldn’t budge. I kept telling my parents “I have never shown before. I don’t know what to do.” They made me take that first step into that ring and I never looked back.
I have looked at this analogy many times as I made decisions throughout high school and my first year at UNL. When I decided to start my marketing business, I had very little previous knowledge of Social Media and Multimedia. I surrounded myself with people who did that business very well and knew I had a niche in the Cattle Market. I knew cattle and cattle genetics. That pushed me to take my first step.
As entrepreneurs, we have many opportunities to take our first steps. Whether that first step is writing down a business idea to building the business idea that you’ve had for a little while, I encourage everyone to take that first step and push themselves into the ring. One of my favorite quotes is, “The first step toward getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” - Chauncey Depew
As we get close to summer break, I encourage everyone to take that first step and do something extraordinary!