Here is another wonderful story for your day. I am sure you will enjoy the story SO MUCH

he Little Engine That Could was a story that inspired many of us as
children. The story tells of a small train that was faced with a steep
climb up a very large hill. Half way up the hill the little engine
started to feel as though it was an impossible task. Fear set in.

“Will I make it?” the train wondered. “What if I don’t? What if I run
out of steam before I make it? What if I’m not equipped with a strong
enough engine to handle this?”

The fear grew inside as his speed slowed with the climb. Soon he crawled
to a stop. “I can’t make it,” he thought.

He was gripped with fear, paralyzed by it. Then things got even worse.
He was now slipping backwards. His fear was now his reality. The top of
the hill was out of his reach and he would never make it. As he slid
backwards he yelled out, “I don’t want to fail!”

Then something inside him changed. In truth he really did want to be on
the top of the hill, not forever stuck at the bottom to live in its
shadow. Fear was replaced with determination, drive, and a desire to
make it to the top. With all he had in him he focused on summoning the
power he needed to stop the backward slide.

And he did it! He was now holding his ground on the hill. His excitement
deepened his determination. Up the hill he began moving, ever so slowly,
pulling the weight of the entire train behind him. He looked up toward
the top of the hill and held clear in his mind the vision of making it.
He became even more determined and that made him feel stronger. His
confidence grew and he picked up more speed. The train didn’t feel so
hard to pull now. He felt great strength within himself that he hadn’t
known before; strength he had never needed before now. As he neared the
top of the hill he felt unstoppable. He knew he was going to make it!

He did it! The little ol’train made it to the top of the hill and
congratulated himself. It felt great to be at the top. Filled with joy,
confidence and a passion for life he looked down the tracks eager to
continue his journey. He saw another hill - bigger than the last! A big
smile came over his face; for he truly understood there is no end to the
hills! This filled him with a deep sense of peace and humility. He then
further realized that the journey and the destination are one and the
same.

He wondered how was it that at the half-way point he felt so overcome
with the task and yet it was in him to make it. He was strong enough.
Could it have been that as his fears grew, his thoughts were consumed
with the vision of not making it? Failure almost became his reality. It
was when he changed his focus - alerted his perspective - that he felt
powerful. In fact, it seemed the more he believed in himself the
stronger he felt, and the easier the climb became. His new focus became
his new reality!

He admired just how powerful his thoughts are and he never took them for
granted again. He became aware of his thoughts and he used them to go
places he always wanted to go!

Remember: You are the conductor of your own train on the tracks of life
and you are strong enough to go places you want to go. Don’t let a
little hill stop you - choose the reality you wish to create, not the
one you’re afraid might occur. Soon enough you’ll be able to say just
like the little engine, “I know I can!”

Heather Walter

Heather Walter is an Inner Balance Coach, Motivational Speaker and
Writer located in Whitby, Ontario. You can email her your comments on
this story to: heatherwalter@rogers.com

The article I want to share with you today, was sent in by one of my friends, Innocent, of Suucess Principles Online.

In this article, he is sharing with us how Ideas can turn our lives and businesses around. I am sure you will enjoy this article and if you do, please pay him a VISIT! There are so many quality articles you will find on his blog. I have RICHLY being blessed reading some od his posts.

Happy Reading.

Successful businesses are built on solid ideas

In my close to four years of studying top world successful businesses to
finding out what made them successful, a factor I have continued to
identify that form the base for their success is the quality of the ideas
behind their formation.

This is where the line is drawn between those businesses that would
succeed and those that would go out of business no sooner than they
started. Every entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur has a business idea
they believe would be successful. So, they set about as true entrepreneur
that they are putting in all the resources they could muster, including
taking loans and investing their life savings.

They hoped they would smile eventually when their product or service hits
the market. But sad to say, this hope soon turns into disappointment for
many when their ‘great’ product or service is rejected by customers. No
matter how they try using the best marketing tactics and strategies, the
product or service could at most only sell one or two and that’s all.
People just aren’t willing to part with their money for it, even if you
put a gun in their head – it wasn’t a great idea after all! And what a
price to pay for such knowledge!

Now am sure you are itching to ask me how you could know if your business
idea would be successful or not before committing your resources to it. I
will tell you. Here are some food for thought to help you consider your
business ideas to know if they will make it or not.

Is the idea novel?

If it is a novel or new idea, that’s simply excellent. The chance of the
business succeeding is high if it’s offering a new product or service than
is presently available in the market. However, this new product or service
should not be difficult to obtain, use or apply.

If you are not offering a new product or service, then it means there are
already businesses in that market. So how do you hope to compete against
them? Is your product or service distinct from the rest? If yes, what
makes it different? What innovation or additional value are you providing?

The more your business is looking like the market leaders, the less chance
it will succeed. This is because you will be competing directly against
the market leaders. You will be trying to knock them off the position in
the consumers’ minds they have been occupying for long. Even if you
combine the muscles of Sylvester Stallone and Anold Schwarzenegger, you
may not be able to achieve this. Worse for you, they could just decide to
squeeze you out of business because they have enormous resources in their
disposal.

Am not trying to scare you, but take my advice: if your business is not
novel, make sure you avoid competing directly with the market leaders,
don’t look like them. Differentiate yourself and find a niche to operate.

What is the size of your market?

How large is the population of those who you are targeting to buy from
you? Are they large enough to sustain the business? How often will they
use your product or service and what drives or compel them to buy? Is this
strong and also sustainable?

Can you produce cheaply?

This is also an important factor to consider to know if your business will
be successful or not. As a start-up, it will be good for you to sell at a
lower price than the competition without compromising value of course. But
you will not be able to do this if you cannot maintain a low cost of
production. Therefore, if this idea does not enable you produce at low
cost, your chance of attaining success in the business may be slim.

You see, pricing is very crucial to business success, especially when you
are dealing in consumables. People are more willing to try out a product
if the price does not tear their pocket. And it’s when they have tried
your product that they can become customers.

Innocent Ibhaluobe (Success Coach)

Innocent Ibhaluobe is a personal development and business coach with
special interest in entrepreneurship and raising small businesses. He owns
http://www.successprinciplesonline.com where you will find extremely
valuable resources on personal and business success.