Ever wonder what it takes to take the road less travelled?
So many of us, both young and old, are wondering how we can make a better world? How can we loop-out of the grind and bring a new idea to life? Something that resonates with everyone while balancing nature in the process. How do we do this when everything seems so easy for the big guys and so impossible for the small guys?
These are typical questions of the makers, the innovators and as Robert Frost wrote in his famous poem, those that take the road less travelled:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
(The Road Not Taken, 16-20)
PECO, and many other emerging micro-businesses are wrestling with these very questions. On many occasions the road seems endless, rocky and sometimes too steep to climb. But on each occasion the challenges are met with a stubbornness of perseverance knowing that the road less travelled is a privileged one. It was found because of many common roads travelled in the past. You can’t get to the road less travelled unless you can tell the difference between the two. That only comes by ultimately being true to yourself.
Recently, I have been completely honoured to have Charlene Norman capture my PECO road to date. Charlene is a gifted businesswoman with years of experience travelling many roads within the corporate world. She has been CEO of many top 100 companies. Like many enlightened leaders, her wisdom and knowledge is now focused on advising companies as a “Truth Teller” and “Chief Empathy Officer” towards advising more stewardship and empathy within business. As friends, we clearly agree on many of the same hardships of today’s business climate.
So it made sense to use the podcasts she produced to further help others understand PECO’s journey within the context of the road less travelled. Each podcast can be found on Charlene’s channel, The 5C’s. In her wisdom, Charlene separates our lengthy conversation into three distinct episodes. Below is a listing and link to each with take-aways and thoughts that you might find useful when considering YOUR road less travelled.
Episode #1
Artistic Alchemy: Turning Plastic Waste Into Masterpieces
Click the image above or here to listen to the podcast.
Combine existing ideas to create something new.
PECO was invented by combining art with new, emerging ways of treating plastic on a micro scale. It took a little bit of research and a lot of dreaming to build the scenario of what could be. But it was the combination of these two separate ideas that really made our road less travelled. But the idea shouldn’t be limited to just new emerging ways of doing things. Abeego, for instance, takes an old tradition of wax cloth making and applies this to food conservation as a natural alternative to plastic pollution and food waste. Toni Desrosiers writes a compelling post about her road less travelled.Show Me The Passion
This is the time to be passionate about what you do. If you find yourself at the edge of your own seat telling others about what you might want to accomplish, then you know you are on the right track. Use that passion to become knowledgeable of the issues and expert of the overall field.Be Useful within a Sea of One
Passion is the fuel but your car needs to drive. Your unique selling proposition needs a solution as unique as you are. In my twenty years of brand consultation, I was always swimming within a sea of hundreds of competing fish. PECO’s solution, on the other hand, is unique enough to be relatively competition free. We are useful not just by being artists, but by helping companies and individuals fulfill their own need for sustainability. Dream big by becoming the ONLY solution people will want to personally become engaged with.Don’t go it alone
Shoestring budgets need a community of support. Let’s face it, taking the road less travelled means swimming upstream. It’s a tough hike and not for those unable to commit emotionally or practically. But some of the burden on both accounts gets buffered when you include others along the way. Collaboration means having people encourage you and support you while you enable them by giving access to your platform. Our collaboration with our client employees in collecting plastic waste together means giving them a way to channel their efforts into something more useful than the empty void that seems to define our regional recycling programs.
Click the image above or here to listen to the podcast.
Align you solution with a REALLY BIG issue
Invest in creating solutions for issues that need attention immediately and are bigger than yourself. We at PECO, are the first to travel a unique road that we know will become a WELL travelled one in the future. Doing so means taking extra efforts to define the tracks which means more effort up front. Likewise, if the issue you are addressing is big and important and is gaining momentum within the public realm, feel reassured that your efforts today will help navigate others to journey in your footsteps. Every effort you make is ultimately helping shed light on a very important issue. Think big and get comfortable working on a solution bigger than yourself.Be as passionate about the cause you are addressing as you are about the unique solution you create
Being a unique solution provider means becoming a thought leader comfortable with the details of your cause. Good leaders have an ability to simplify complexity in ways that make sense to the everyday person. Get into the issues and articulate it in easy-to-digest bites for everyone to understand. It helps bring people to the cause and customers to your till.
Click the image above or here to listen to the podcast.
At the end of the day, the entrepreneur is the only one that must take the first step. This episode gets pretty personal as I reveal how my road less travelled was an evolution over 30 years of professional working life.
Use the skills you have nurtured already
Inventing a new path that is helpful to the world should be founded upon the skills that are real within yourself. As a branding consultant, I can only testify to the fact that my new path as PECO only worked because of the many roads I had journeyed. Taking the road less travelled does not mean abandoning the wealth of knowledge and wisdom of experience you have gained along the way. Using that wealth will help your venture become that much more successful.Use your own failure as a way forward
Charlene’s summary: “Failure does not define us. Failure gives us a much more solid foundation from which to find our own success,” is bang-on! Feel the pain of failure and the shame it brings for a brief moment. Then celebrate it by using that lesson as a tool in your shed to add new dimension to your solution.Know that you are willfully going into a forest with your head held high
It’s a lot easier when the market is ready for your new idea the moment you have the new idea. But life rarely seems to work so seamlessly. If the need within you is real, don’t hesitate to move into your passion as your new reality even if your idea has never been done before. It’s great to have passion but be realistic in knowing there will be hurdles along the way.
I’m finding the road less travelled is becoming easier as we round off our fourth year of business. There are fewer hurdles as word gets out and new clients come on board. Likeminded colleagues like Charlene Norman see my progress and lend a hand by showcasing my journey. Thank you Charlene!! Ultimately, the Road Less Travelled has been worth the struggle. Once in a while I get to the top of a hill with a happy client or a new product possibility. I celebrate that moment of success briefly before continuing on the path with lots of important work ahead.