The Prayer Walk

You may think by the title of this blog that I am writing about a spiritual experience.  Maybe I am, but it didn't feel that way at the time.

If you've owned a business for any period of time, you've made the Prayer Walk.  This was my version of the Prayer Walk:

My first office was in an old house, built in 1909.  I had no mailbox, only the slit in the door where the postal carrier would PLOP my mail.  When it hit the hardwood floor, it made this popping sound and I was out of my chair and on my way.  I was on my Prayer Walk.

You see, when I started my firm, no one paid you online or with ACH.  You got a check.  Every now and then, someone paid in cash.  But 99% of the time, you got a check by mail.  I can distinctly remember days of updating my accounting records and looking at a small balance in the checking account, knowing that I had to make payroll the next week or pay my rent.  I would say aloud “How am I going to make that happen?”

When I would hear the mail hit the floor, my Prayer Walk began.

Two steps…echo, echo….Please let there be a check in the mail.

Two more steps…echo, echo….Please let there be a check in the mail.

Two last steps…I only need $750 to get me to next week….come on, no Whammies, no Whammies…

Then, I would see the result of my Prayer Walk.  Some days, prayers were answered.  Other days, I was told to ask again later. Prayers aren't always answered when you pray them and sometimes they aren't answered at all.
Sometimes you are required to hold on until the next day. Which means you have to figure out how to hang on one more day. String together enough days of "figuring it out" and you are running a business, like any true entrepreneur.