Nothing is wasted

By Nina Kaufman, Esq.

My life has become an M. Night Shyamalan film.

More specifically, Signs.

If you’ve never seen it (and no worries about a spoiler alert, here), it involves a former priest, Graham (played by Mel Gibson), whose wife died in a horrific car accident. He has two children: a son, Morgan, who is asthmatic; and a daughter, Bo, who leaves half-filled water glasses all over the house. Graham’s younger brother, Merrill (played by Joaquin Phoenix), who lives with them, is a failed minor league baseball player. And when strange crop circles show up on their property … well, you’ll just have to see the film.

Lots of strange disjointed details: Why is Morgan asthmatic? Why does Bo leave water glasses all over the place? Why is it relevant that Merrill played baseball? What’s the connection between the neighbor’s cryptic warning—and Graham’s wife’s death? How does it all tie into the crop circles?

When you watch the film, you’ll see. All the details come together. Nothing is wasted.

And when you look back on you’re the arc of your business and career, you may find the same.

“Why a podcast?” I asked, in the last issue of All Systems Go! And why this interest in scaling a business?

Here are my disjointed details: Why was I a DJ at my college radio station? What was the relevance of my law degree? Why did I have to start my own law firm? How does it help that I wrote a book—and created a multimedia home study course–about business partnerships? What did I learn about business by looking at a doughnut?

With hindsight, I now see that all the details come together. Nothing is wasted.

DJ’ing made me comfortable with interviews and microphones. (Perfect for podcasting—which makes me happy to do it)
Legal training helps me think through systems and flow—great for contracts and business processes
To start my own firm, I jumped into the entrepreneurial pool to learn about business first-hand
Partnership experience gives me a solid foundation for forging new alliances
Through the Entrepreneurs Prenup (and other products), I learned to create multimedia content and intellectual property
My law firm “failure” taught me it’s not enough to build a business that makes money … if it falls apart the moment you step away–as that gives you no meaningful options

It’s said that the sound of recognition is laughter. And when I started to see how all of these pieces fit together into a new and expanded business, I began to laugh.

Nothing is wasted.

How do your pieces fit together?

Nothing is wasted

About Nina Kaufman, Esq.