Human beings can talk themselves out of anything, dare I say everything; then wonder why they have nothing. We have learned to use every excuse in the book so we don’t have to follow-up, follow-through and do. I recently received a long list of questions from a woman who wants to start a home bakery and mobile dessert truck, selling cupcakes and jumbo cookies to the uptown lunch crowd in her city.

She did not want to join HomebasedBaking.com ($10.95 per month – no consecutive payments, just pay month by month or when you need assistance) to access the  website resources which would have answered about 90% of her questions, she just wanted the answers, no work, no research, just answers. Seriously, there’s nothing wrong with wanting answers to your questions and at HBB we don’t expect everyone to join; in fact some bakers don’t need our assistance and that’s great!

So, what happened… I decided to give her a call and as we talked she started to give me every excuse in the book why her business venture might not work. There were doubts, lots and lots of doubts; but doubt and work go hand-in-hand. She said:

“I don’t have any money
This isn’t what I had planned, it’s so involved
I don’t feel like reading all that material
I don’t know how to do that
I’m afraid
Oh, that’s too hard
I have so many personal problems right now
I’m not sure I’m ready for this
I don’t know anyone in my neighborhood that’s doing that
I don’t have anyone to help me”

After I let her go through all the reasons why she should not or could not start her home bakery/mobile truck business; I hit her with a rather painful suggestion and recommended that she not go into the home bakery business, find a job she likes and call it a day.

Was I wrong?

Look!

If you are not willing to spend money on knowledge you lack
If you are not willing to read and learn what you don’t know
If you are not willing to do things you may not like
If you are not willing to do it afraid
If you are not willing to take on the “hard” tasks
If you are not willing to live life, persevere with all your “personal problems” in tow
If you are not ready for a change in your life
If you are not willing to ask for help, even if it means spending money
If you are not willing to try without help
You are not willing!

The definition of willing – Ready, eager, or prepared to do something… she was not!

What is your favorite excuse?