Building the foundation for the houses that I helped build in Nicaragua was a time-consuming process that took all day. Although the foundation didn’t look like much, the end result will be life changing for a family in need.
My experience in Nicaragua has been a such a great metaphor for every aspect of life.
You have to make sure that, anything that you want to create in your life, that has value and meaning, has a strong and steady foundation.
In order to achieve a successful, long-lasting business you need to make sure that you build a strong foundation for that business so that it can grow and withhold the adversity and changes that occur in life.
Building the foundation of a house is similar.
Watch the video below:
(Click here to watch on YouTube)
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Building the foundation is a critical piece that most online businesses are missing. If you don’t build a strong foundation for your business, it will not withstand the test of time. Similarly, if you don’t build a strong foundation for your home, it will easily crumble.
Some people want the final result without the process. They want to achieve optimal success immediately, without taking the necessary steps to get there. Why? Because it's hard work to set strong foundations.
Sure enough, when you take shortcuts and you don’t invest the time and the energy to build a strong foundation, it will cost you down the road. Be patient and do things the right way, in both your personal and professional life. It is a lot of hard work, but when the foundation is established, things will be easier to build off of.
My experience in Nicaragua has taught me how blessed I am. Our struggles are small, in comparison to the extreme poverty and hardships that so many people in developing countries face.
Take a moment to think about how blessed you truly are. Be thankful for what you have, rather than focusing on what you don’t have. When you adopt this mindset, it will give you a deeper appreciation and joy for your life and the opportunities that lie in front of you every day.
Video transcript
All right, guys. Right now I'm in Nicaragua volunteering to build houses. This is the second house that we're building right here. As you can see, we're building the foundation, and this foundation that you see behind me has taken us all day to do. This is part of a two-day build project. By the end of the second day, we will build a house for a family that's struggling and suffering in poverty.
Just to give you an example, that's our current house right there, which is basically just a shack. It's not sturdy or durable, and it's falling apart. It's just not a proper way to live. By the end of the second day, we're going to build a house that is going to look like this. It's a huge upgrade from what they currently have.
As I'm spending all day working and getting dirty in the scorching hot sun, while building this foundation, it doesn't look like much. All we really have right now are pillars in the ground. It's been a pain because you've got to dig holes in the ground, and the holes have to be really deep. This is really important for the people who live here, because they suffer from flooding a lot.
You've got to do a really good job with the foundation
You've also got to make sure that everything is leveled and precise. As we're doing this, I was thinking that this is such a great metaphor for life, for every aspect of your life, because everything that you want to create in your life that has value and meaning, you have to make sure that it stays strong and steady on a solid foundation. If you want to build a successful business, you've got to make sure that you build a foundation for that business, so that the business can be successful. You need to build a foundation so that the business can grow, so that it can scale up, and withhold all the adversity, changes, and adjustments that can occur in life. Building the foundation of a house is the same thing.
If you want to build a successful business on Amazon or a successful publishing business, you've got to make sure that you build the right foundation. If you don't, then what's going to happen is your business can easily crumble. In the same way, if you do a poor job with the foundation of a house, then sure enough it's going to get wiped out by a flood. It's going to fall apart. It's not going to have something strong and steady that it can remain on for many years to come.
I think a lot of people skim this part. They just try to get a book out there. They just try to get their product out there on Amazon, or they just want to get quick results. They want to build the house, but they want to skip the foundation. Sure enough, when you take shortcuts and you don't build that solid, strong foundation, then it's going to cost you later down the road.
This is just a really great example. We've been spending all day on this foundation. The great thing is that once this is done and we get the floor on, then everything else is fast and easy. All we've got to do from there is get the walls up and throw on the roof. It's a very quick and fast process. It's just that building the foundation is so much work.
As you can see, it doesn't really look like much, but it's the exact same in life and in your business. Taking the time and doing things the right way; building that foundation in your business, building that foundation in your relationship, building that foundation in your health. You need to doing things the right way. You've just got to do it one time.
Yes, it's a lot of work
It's not easy. Trust me. We've been frustrated. There have been a lot of measurements, making sure everything is precise and leveled, and that the holes are deep enough. There are a lot of things that are involved in doing this. By doing things the right way, we're not going to have any worries down the road, and this house is going to be strong and sturdy and last for many years for a family that's in need.
I wanted to share that metaphor with you because I think this is applicable to every aspect of your life. Take your time to build that foundation. Do things the right way. Don't take shortcuts. Don't give up, because sometimes people just want to give up because they're not seeing the results fast enough. What you don't realize is that you're building that foundation. When you get the foundation down, I can promise you things are going to be much easier to build off of after that.
Once you got a book up and it's a quality book, and you've improved it on Amazon, then the marketing and promotion of it becomes a lot easier because you've got that great foundation. The same thing with your Amazon product, your blog, your YouTube channel, etc. A YouTube channel or a blog takes time to build up at the beginning. At the beginning, you've got to build that foundation. You've got to get the first hundred visitors a day.
You've got to get the first thousand subscribers on your YouTube channel. You've got to get those people following you on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and social media, and build your email list. Once you get past that foundation part and you've got a hundred people a day going to your blog, your blog is now an authority in the eyes of Google and the search engines. Your YouTube channel has built up some authority. It's got that foundation. Guess what? It's then very easy to scale, and everything becomes a lot faster.
I just wanted to share that little quick metaphor with you guys
Things are slowly coming along here. I've got some more videos coming for you guys soon. We're building two houses right now that I funded as part of a goal that I committed to this year. It's my second trip. I went to El Salvador last year to do the same thing. Many of you guys saw the video that I did on YouTube sharing that experience.
It's been a lot of fun, very rewarding, a lot of hard work, but it really puts every aspect of your life in perspective. It makes you realize how blessed we are to have access to the Internet, and have a roof over our head, and be able to sleep in a bed at night. All of the little things that we take for granted.
It makes me realize that we have no problems, and that we're very blessed and gifted to have the circumstances that we have in our lives. Your struggles or problems are really small compared to the rest of the world. If you can realize that and realize how many gifts and blessings that you have in your life, then I think it can give you a deeper sense of appreciation, joy, and gratitude. All right, guys. Take care.
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