I think it is safe to say that every American has heard of Martin Luther King Jr. He is in our school history books for his famous “I have a dream” speech. We celebrate his birthday every year with a federal holiday in January. For many people, that is the extent of what they know about him. However, his life was full of adversity and overcoming challenges. There are many lessons from his life that entrepreneurs in need of bad credit business loans can apply to their business.
The author, Michael Hyatt, describes it perfectly, “Fear is the number one obstacle that most people face in their lives Fear is a very debilitating thing. It doesn’t serve many useful purposes, and people can get really stuck in it.” Every entrepreneur has faced fear along the path of starting a business. Fear can continue to creep back in every time it appears the business is beginning to struggle. Or, anytime that business growth involves expanding outside of the “comfort zone”.
Can you imagine if Martin Luther King Jr. had allowed himself to be paralyzed by fear? Imagine where America would be today if he hadn’t been willing to embrace and overcome fear. Robert Ellis Smith, a reporter that covered the Civil Rights Movement said about King, “He used to tell me, ‘If you are not anxious, that means you are not engaged, that you shouldn’t fear fear, you should go with it,’”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. knew how to form partnerships with like-minded people, therefore expanding his reach. He started by building relationships with local leaders and community members. As a result of these relationships, he was also able to build partnerships with national leaders as well. These relationships were crucial to the reach that he had. Having good relationships with people at all levels was a game changer for him. For example, it was after his friend and gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, shouted out, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” that he deviated from his prepared speech that day and talked about his dream.
Even though business is different from leading a civil rights movement, building a good network is just as important. People hold a lot of power and can have a lot of influence over others, therefore in business aligning yourself with the right people is key. Having the right connections in your business network can help you get your foot in the door with your biggest prospect, point you in the right direction for necessary bad credit business loans to help ease your cash flow problems, or find the deal on the materials you need to purchase.
Dr. King was an authentic man, and as a result of this, he changed the lives of many people. It was because of his strong passion, that he was able to communicate in a way that made people take notice. As a result of his ability to grow such a large following, political leaders realized that changes needed to be made. The speeches delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. would have had no power, no influence, and long since been forgotten, if it weren’t for the large crowds of people listening and participating.
He didn’t try to be something that he was not, and that is an important lesson for entrepreneurs. It is easy to believe that you need to follow a certain path to be successful. However, the most important key to success in business is knowing the “why” behind what you are doing and being passionate about it. If you are not truly passionate about the work that you are doing or the business you are running, it will not take long for others to pick up on the fact. Follow your dreams for your business. Be Authentic, and those you do business with will take notice and the excitement will grow.
There are many people that face major opposition in their life, and Martin Luther King Jr. is a perfect example. Anytime you are doing something that is worth doing you will find opposition. The people that are successful in life do it in spite of this opposition, not because their path was clear and easy. Dr. King was arrested 30 times. Think about that.
Entrepreneurs face many challenges when starting and running a business. At times it might seem like everyone is against you. However, be encouraged by Martin Luther King Jr. His opposition was not wondering if he could find bad credit business loans to deal with cash flow problems or being able to compete against big businesses, it was facing jail time and harm while trying to help a society overcome oppression and prejudice. He was up against hundreds of years of history that didn’t support what he was saying.
f you are a business owner who has been turned down for traditional loans, don’t lose hope. Apply these lessons from the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and work to keep pushing forward to achieving your business dreams. Tiger Funding offers bad credit business loans to businesses. See if your business qualifies today.
