Wednesday Wisdom: Basking In The Light

Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Businesses

Standing in a vacant parking lot in the southside of Syracuse, a RN spoke to me about how a volunteer role brought her to this spot on a sunny day speaking with me. She detailed the origins of her work and how it slowly, and at times rapidly, became a 501(C)3 non-profit organization. It began with a need in the community that grew over time, similar to so many enterprises started by women.

Because of the organization’s generous mission, members of the community kept donating their time, resources, and physical buildings to the service agency moved by their passion and mission. As we spoke in the brilliant, warm spring sunshine, her smile beaming as much as the sun, I felt her love for what she does and who she serves.

Before joining her outside in her beautiful place in the sun, I worked in the kitchen of one of the buildings granted to them from a generous benefactor, only to walk outside to their old building recently remodeled to provide new medical and dental services to the disadvantaged starting in June. Gleefully she showed me what existed before the renovation, and then afterward as the freshly painted walls shined next to donated equipment, cabinets, and office supplies.

I’ve seen that joy before, and not on Easter Morning when gleeful girls adorned in pink ruffles with satin shoes and boys in blue pinstriped outfits arrive at their grandparent’s house for dinner and jelly beans. It was a joy I’ve seen in the eyes of every woman entrepreneur who started a company, expanded jubilantly, basked in their growing endeavors, and witnessed the happiness from the people they serve. It’s contagious, raw, and inspiring every single time.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to make you remember that feeling when you stood in your own entrepreneurial corner of the world beaming with contentment mixed in with excitement for the next development. Sometimes we get so busy doing “the work,” that we forget “the feeling” our work brings to us and eventually to the people we serve. The lesson I received today from this woman was to bask in the pure joy of doing what we love, witnessing our dream become a reality, and recognizing we are always in the right place at the right time with more blessings than we can count to help us. Those blessings include funding, resources, people, and connections.

As we each anticipate the full arrival of spring with beautiful blossoms and abundant sunshine, let us remember we have blossomed our own corner of the business world providing light and joy to those we serve.