Starting Again

On my bus rides from Cumbayá up to Quito, I've recently been memorizing a poem by Rudyard Kipling entitled, "If." It is written as advice from father to son on how to have "the Earth and everything in it" and to "be a man," but even more than that, it teaches what it means to have true strength of character. There is one part of the poem that reminds me of a businessperson with whom I have been working. The poem says,

"If you can...watch the things you've given your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch--and toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss."

This mark of character is one that I have seen in Luis, a dinnerware salesman who spends each day riding the buses of Quito from one hotel to the next restaurant to another military establishment. All the while, he is carrying with him catalogues of plates and cups and buffet food warmers. From what my coworker told me, this was not where Luis was a couple years ago. Of course, he had to start in the same way long before, but over the years he had built a large business with major clients including the best 5-star hotels in Quito and international chain restaurants as well. The business was going well until family issues led Luis to give up his business. Without his management, the business failed, and not only did Luis have nothing, but the person to whom he gave the business also lost everything.

And so Luis started again at his beginning. He still had his contacts at those hotel and restaurants even if he had lost his working capital and the warehouse he had filled with inventories of dinnerware and other merchandise. Luis began reestablishing his business little by little first with one small client and then with a few major hotels. Without a car, it takes time for Luis to reach the businesses, and when they ask him to bring physical samples of plates or water pitchers, he loads up his wares in an old black suitcase. But he is persistent, and during a recent visit, he told me that he has regained clients among the international chain restaurants. He now represents a linens manufacturer and a laundry service, offering their products and services to each hotel he visits. Through diversification, persistence, and strength of character, Luis is slowly rebuilding his business from the beginning. And something else--he was not the one who told me about his loss. His focus is on doing his best in his present work and achieving his goals for the future.

While we like to hear the stories of continual progress and business growth, the hard fact is that each business and each person faces trials at one time or another.  Being able to pick up the pieces and start over and succeed show the strength of character of a business owner and the power to endure of a business.