Chapter 24Success Takes Time
Michael found the carpenter at his favorite burrito shop after work. That’s where his voicemail told people he would be. He was now working in a private home, like Michael and Sarah’s, where it wouldn’t be appropriate to have clients come see him, so he sat at the burrito shop for a few hours each day and waited for people to come visit him. He loved people watching and talking to strangers who needed to know they weren’t alone in this world. He smiled, opened the door for people, and offered a word of encouragement to those he could tell needed it. Some thought he was too nice to be normal. Others thought he worked there. The burrito shop owners loved him because business always got busier when he was there. Everyone who came to see him bought something and became an instant fan of the place. But even the burrito shop’s happy atmosphere could not convert Michael’s misery. As he chomped on his burrito, he told the carpenter about his struggle to acquire new clients over the past few weeks.
“I thought Love, Serve, Care would work immediately, like it worked with the basketball team,” he said.
The carpenter smiled. “It will work, but it takes time! These are not short-term success strategies. These are strategies for the long haul, strategies to build a masterpiece, not something you stick together with plywood. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your business. Consider that Sam Walton did not open his second store until seven ...