Anticipation

Saturday morning at 9am Quito time, our many hours of preparatory work will culminate in the inauguration of a new business training class for micro and small business owners in Quito.  Over the past weeks we have worked to secure a classroom in a central location; promote the course in four churches; confirm participants; and print flyers, sign up sheets, and hundreds of pages of course booklets.  We have been praying for God's blessing and looking for opportunities to invite more people to participate, both as facilitators leading the classes and as participants deepening their knowledge of business fundamentals from a biblical basis.

July Training Graduation

As I sit in the office and listen to the printer hum through one sheet after of tomorrow's homework, I can feel the potential that this course holds.  Tomorrow will mark the end of promotional work, but it is just the start of 12 weeks of classes.  On the eve of the start, we don't know who will come, what types of businesses they will have, or in what areas their businesses can grow, but those details will be part of a new phase of work and learning.

It strikes me as ironic that the focus of the training is to elaborate a Business Plan.  After all our planning for this class, the point of our work will be to teach others to plan.  It's not always a message that we want to hear.  It would be much easier if we could show up tomorrow and everything would magically be ready, without any investment of our time.  In the same way, I'm sure the business owners would agree that there would be less stress and fewer sleepless nights if the product line rolled on without supervision, the accounts always balanced themselves, and the product sold wildly without any advertising.

However, if we had not gone through the process of preparing for this course, we would not have learned some of the lessons along the way.  We would not have met some of the people who are now supporting the course, and I would not know the board members as well.  In short, the course holds more value for the work we have invested in it, and the anticipation of all these weeks will make the beginning of the course that much more fulfilling.

I hope that taking this course and planning for their businesses will have a similar value for the businesspeople who participate.  Spending 3 hours each Saturday morning in a course for 12 weeks won't always be appealing at 8am after a late Friday night, but hopefully what the course participants learn while preparing their business plans will have a lasting impact on the way they do business.

Unfortunately, a business plan is sometimes seen as a necessary evil on the path to a loan, quickly forgotten as soon as the financing is achieved.  "I already know everything I need to know about business; just give me the money" is a sentiment far too often expressed.  Yet without planning, we are not ready to take major steps in life and flourish in both the opportunities and the challenges.  Planning does not avoid difficulties, but it prepares us to persevere.  What's more, the anticipation involved in planning shows us the importance of what we are doing and teaches us to delight in achieving our goals.

As I listed to music play over the continuing hum of the printer and look out at the mountains and valleys of Quito, I know that this stage of planning is drawing to an end, but there are others to come.  We are planning goals for this year as an organization--to improve trainings and to give follow up assistance and to make strategic alliances with other organizations.  Each thing will come with its due time, and until then we will keep working hard and anticipating the results.