5 years to success

Today, I was having a conversation with someone about the success of her online business.

After 5 years in business, she is now in the top 1% of sellers on her chosen platform. The top 1500 out of 162,000 sellers.

Of course she didn’t start here and said it has been a lot of work to grow bit by bit.

I couldn’t help but appreciate the similarity to many success stories about the momentum-building nature of hard work - as well as countless quotes and cliches.

The Chinese bamboo that barely grows for the first 5 years then begins to shoot up nearly a metre a day.

The quote that we tend to overestimate what we can achieve in 1 year but underestimate what we can achieve in 5.

Whichever adage, the real world situation seems to commonly reflect this principle. - the crucial factor, of course, being the consistent work invested over this time.