"If you don't make waves, you're not underway.'"
- Leonard P. Gollobin

The weather is starting to warm up (at least on the West Coast) and it's around this time that I typically see more energy, more ideas and more life all around me. With Spring rapidly approaching, trees are beginning to get their leaves back, flowers are starting to bloom and it feels like momentum is mounting in business and in life. The quote above speaks loudly to me as I have lately felt that "momentum" is a key factor to success or failure. In order to make waves, you must have momentum of some sort to create that lift. What results from that wave could be positive or negative, so it's critical that you try and control the direction of the momentum early to be sure you're underway in the right direction.

Having an operational role within my company makes me largely responsible for much of the success and failures that we experience. It may not always be me that comes up with the ideas, or that makes every decision that leads us down the path that we're on, but it is up to me to help control the flow of our efforts and try to put us on a path to success. One of the biggest advantages we have as a small business, which is also often a challenge, is the ability to quickly adapt to the ever-changing world around us. The advantage is that we can adjust our efforts to continue to fit more in line with what will bring us the most opportunity of success. The disadvantage is that constantly changing with the ever-changing world often does not allow us to establish momentum in our overall goals. To better explain this point, let's use a trip in your car as an example. If you're driving from one city to the next, the most efficient way to get there is often by taking an available freeway that links the two together. This may not always be the shortest distance, but it is often the route that provides the best gas mileage and the quickest time to arrival. This is due to the fact that you have momentum on your side that requires less resources overall to arrive at the same destination. If you're forced to take busy surface streets, then you're facing a lot of starting and stopping that leads to poor gas economy and longer drive times, not to mention the stress that often comes along with it! The point is, if you're able to utilize the force of momentum, much like the power of water when it forms a wave, then you've got a priceless resource that can't be bought helping you achieve your goals.

Last year I took on a charitable event for the first time in my life. It involved "carrying the torch" of a team formed for the annual Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada's 5K & 1 Mile Race. My wife's cousin had learned a few years ago she had brain cancer at the age of 15. Unfortunately, MaKenzie Hanover ultimately lost her battle with cancer the following year. Team Kenzie remained strong, but after her parents moved away from Las Vegas, there was no longer an organizer for Team Kenzie. I felt that it would be a great honor to MaKenzie to carry on the tradition of the team and continue to help raise money for this great charity. The decision was made very close to the time of the event, so there was little time to recruit and coordinate what I hoped to achieve. Although we managed get over 80 members and more than $5,000, earning us second place for Largest Family Team, I felt there was a lot more we could have done had we had more time to build greater momentum. The annual event is in September, but registration and donations are available today! We are already underway, and I plan to build momentum to carry a wave of opportunity to help make this year's team even bigger and stronger! If you'd like to contribute and help build this wave, please visit TeamKenzie.com for more information.