As we celebrated the Business Innovation Lab’s eighth anniversary and Excellerate Associates 22 year anniversary, I recalled someone once telling me, “You make it look easy.”
I laughed out loud.
Easy?
Renovating the building, filling the coworking and private suites, and simultaneously running Excellerate Associates was anything but easy.
Coordinating teams, making thousands of decisions during the renovation, and completing it all within two months was a monumental challenge.
When I purchased my building, it had sat vacant for over seven years. In that time, people had turned the parking lot into a convenient pass-through, cutting through the side entrances and exiting out the front. The stop sign at the end of the street was just feet away, yet routine had them taking the shortcut.
To keep my tenants safe and prevent further damage to the lot from constant traffic and multi-ton trucks, I put up a simple chain across the side exits with “No Pass Through” signs.
It didn’t go over well.
Rather than go to the stop sign just a few feet up, drivers plowed through the chain—breaking it repeatedly—just to keep their shortcut or turnaround intact.
Others treated the lot like free storage, parking their trucks and trailers without asking.
When I put up the chains, my tires were slashed.
So, I installed cameras.
Time and again, the cameras caught trucks barreling through the chain instead of turning around. One winter, a driver tried to bypass the chain entirely, driving onto the grass—only to get stuck on a rock buried under snowfall. He had to call a tow truck, leaving behind a mess that required landscaping repairs.
I have hundreds of stories like these.
Yes, hundreds.
Yet, I don’t post them.
Why? I choose to focus my energy.
It’s not that I don’t get angry. I do.
It’s not that I’m not annoyed. I am.
It’s not that I don’t feel defeated. I do.
It’s not that I haven’t shared my frustrations. I have.
But then I remember why I do this.
I remember my Contribution in the World—the impact of our services.
And then, I choose.
I choose to focus on that Contribution, not the circumstances.
I choose to release the anger, annoyance, frustration and defeat.
I choose to reframe and start fresh each day.
Some days, that choice seems hard.
I choose anyway.
Choose powerfully…
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