Your Pie. My Pie. We All Have Our Own Pie!

This past week I had the pleasure of meeting a woman that I can only describe as amazing. Her name is Rosy Jalifi and she runs the Small Business Development Center for the City of Austin. This unbelievable resource is specifically designed to help "develop and empower small businesses in order to strengthen their business capability and survivability." The program in and of itself is an unbelievable resource and something I am proud as an Austinite and an entrepreneur to see our city dollars being spent on.

I always pride myself on the incredible people that I am fortunate to come in contact with. Rosy, having only just met, is someone that is already on my all-star list. I have found that people always come into our lives at a time when we most need them and generally with a message or a lesson we need to hear. My recent lunch with Rosy was a prime example of this point.

As Rosy and I broke bread (well me with Migas and she with soup), we exchanged our mutual passion for entrepreneurship and small business success. As the conversation flew it was like we were old friends as we shared our personal and professional tales. One thing led to another before long Rosy was recalling one of the best lessons she had learned from one of her first bosses. It concerned "Pie." That's right Pie!

Rosy told me how she and her boss had talked about other people's success and whether another person's success took from your success. He equated it to individual pies. Just because someone's pie get's bigger doesn't mean that it happens because it is coming from your pie.

I thought to myself what an amazing analogy.

As I say, lessons come from those who touch us in life. This particular lesson comes as a perfect time for me personally as I truly needed it. Someone who is close to me has their own pie and the success that they are enjoying now is to be admired, not envied.

As Rosy told me, my pie may still need baking.

Thanks for the lesson Rosy!

Check out SBDC's site and see the great Ripples that Rosy and her staff are creating! They are creating a major Ripple Effect!

Ripple On My Friends!

Steve Harper
www.ripplecentral.com