The Seeds of Success

    Your work is important to you, to say the least.  You want to excel and be the best at what you do, right?  We all do.  How does one person set themselves apart from tens, hundreds or thousands of people?

    There is no secret answer that I am going to string you out on over several weeks; this is a simple rant about success.  I learned that the first rule of business is "hard work equals success".  We have all heard that.  It doesn't mean much until you actually start to see your success - even if in the smallest of measurements.

    Here's the thing about success, though...it does not happen over night.  The year was 2006.  I was computing as usual and came upon an unfamiliar word while perusing web sites.  I needed a dictionary...and I had one.  But with one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard, I wasn't particularly in the mood to pick up that book.

    On a whim, I went to http://dictionary.com and found an online resource suitable for my needs.  Incredible it was, with the ease of use and speed.  But it was a tad cumbersome opening a browser window every time I wanted to reference something.  I was a knowledgeable computer programmer at the time and wanted to implement a solution.  So I set out to do so.  Upon scouring the Internet for resources, I came upon the answer.  Within a few hours I had something working that did the job - MyDictionary.  Today, this is the ultimate result:  http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=9e6b3bd3-bae4-437a-b613-ee538ee04c72.

    From that small piece of software spawned a sense of self-worth not known to me until then.  I liked it.  It was an incredible feeling...it drove me to form my company, Southside Solutions (http://southside-solutions.com), which just became a Limited Liability Company, recently - five years later.  Is that success?  When you are the one making the progress, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

    It has been an interesting five years.  It has been a long five years.  Working through holidays and birthdays time and time again seems rather draconian; but, to succeed one must be willing to do what the competition can't and won't do.  One must go the extra mile.  You may be an exception...but do not count your chickens before they hatch - you might not be.  Hard work equals success...so, work hard.  Think before you move, like a chess master.  And never lose sight of why you wanted to succeed.