[wise eDYNASTY WORDS]: Ch. 7 - Sometimes All You Need Is a Wise Push Forward
SOMETIMES ALL YOU NEED IS A WISE PUSH FORWARD
WISELY SHARE…
One unforgettable summer ritual, a splash of courage + a little lesson about turning wonderful possibilities into something real.
In our last chapter, I shared why bringing the essential capabilities of a successful business together online mattered so much to me.
But there was another part of the journey I cared about just as deeply.
Helping people actually begin.
Because I didn’t want the sophistication of a successful business to come at the expense of making it practical for someone to build one.
I wanted people to have the opportunity to put their ideas, knowledge + talents to work without unnecessary delays standing between them and their ambitions.
And whenever I think about the importance of that first bit of momentum, I remember a wonderfully funny story from when my daughters were little.
It involves a holiday house in the south of France.
A group of children who were delighted to see each other.
And one rather enthusiastic little boy who had a very effective way of getting things started!
🏊♀️ A Little Push Into the Pool
Before moving to Colorado, we lived for ten years in Holland, where my husband is from.
And every summer, our family would return to the same holiday house in the sunny south of France.
It was one of those lovely places where the summers developed their own familiar rhythms. The same surroundings, many of the same families + children who had become friends during previous holidays.
My daughters always looked forward to seeing their summer friends again.
And every year, I looked forward to watching what happened when they did.
Because, for some reason I still cannot quite explain, these children had the most peculiar way of greeting one another!
After spending months apart, they’d finally spot each other again.
And then…
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing!
They’d glance at one another.
Look away.
Pretend to be terribly interested in something else.
And generally behave as though they had absolutely no idea what to do with the very friends they’d been so excited to see!
I remember standing there feeling slightly embarrassed for them, while also finding the whole performance rather hilarious.
The other parents and I would exchange those wonderfully puzzled looks.
What on earth was going on?
These children knew each other! They adored each other! They’d spent entire summers playing together!
And yet, here they were, acting like complete strangers.
Every. Single. Year.
Until, inevitably, one wonderfully brave – and perhaps slightly impatient – little boy would decide he’d had quite enough of all this awkwardness.
He’d run straight over…
And push one of my daughters right into the swimming pool!
SPLASH!
Well, that certainly broke the ice.
Or perhaps I should say, the water! 😉
The surprise would turn into laughter.
The laughter would turn into splashing.
And within moments, all those terribly shy little strangers would be playing together as though they’d never spent a day apart.
Just like that.
Problem solved!
It happened year after year, and I still smile when I think about it.
Because the friendships had never disappeared.
Neither had the excitement of being together again.
All that wonderful energy was already there, just waiting to be released.
Sometimes, all it took was one little push to turn all that anticipation into action.
And although I certainly wouldn’t recommend pushing unsuspecting people into swimming pools as a general strategy for getting things moving, there was something about that little summer ritual that stayed with me.
🦋 Sometimes, Getting Started Changes Everything
I’ve thought about that funny little summer ritual many times over the years.
Not because I believe everyone needs to be pushed into action.
Quite the opposite.
But because it reminded me how different things can feel once we’re actually moving.
Those children didn’t need to learn how to be friends. They already knew.
They didn’t need someone to explain why playing together would be wonderful.
They were simply caught in that awkward little moment between wanting to begin + actually beginning.
And once that moment passed, everything flowed naturally.
I began thinking about how important it was to make that first movement easier for people building businesses of their own.
Not by rushing them.
Not by pushing them into decisions they weren’t ready to make.
But by giving them a thoughtful foundation, a clear path + a practical way to begin putting their ambitions into action.
Sometimes, the difference between dreaming of something wonderful and beginning to make it real is simply finding a wiser way to take that first step.
✨ A Wonderful Idea Deserves More Than a Wonderful Beginning
As I continued exploring how to make building online wiser, I kept thinking about the difference between knowing what you want to do and being able to begin doing it.
Because having a wonderful business idea is exciting!
You can imagine what you might create, the people you might help, the products or services you might offer + the life you hope that business will make possible.
And then comes the practical question.
Where do I begin?
Not because the idea isn’t good enough.
Not because the person lacks ambition, talent or determination.
But because turning an idea into a functioning online business involves decisions, technologies + activities that may have very little to do with the work someone actually wants to do.
And I couldn’t help thinking about how much time, energy + opportunity could be lost before someone even had the chance to discover what their business might become.
After all, I’d experienced some of those complications myself.
With all my years of business experience, I knew what I wanted to accomplish. And yet, finding a practical way to bring everything together online had required far more investigation + experimentation than I’d anticipated.
What would that journey be like for someone beginning without that same experience?
Someone with a wonderful product they couldn’t wait to share.
Or a service they’d spent years becoming exceptionally good at providing.
Or an idea they’d been dreaming about bringing to life.
I didn’t want the path to building online to become the reason those possibilities were never explored.
I wanted people to have the opportunity to begin putting their talents to work while their excitement, energy + ambition were still wonderfully alive.
🚀 Why I Wanted the Beginning to Be Different
Now, if there’s one thing my years in business had taught me, it’s that moving quickly and moving wisely are not necessarily the same thing!
You can move very quickly in entirely the wrong direction.
And I’ve never believed that speed, by itself, is a particularly impressive achievement.
But I also knew that unnecessary delays weren’t helping anyone.
Especially when those delays had little to do with the business someone wanted to create and everything to do with the complexity of getting started.
So I began thinking about what a genuinely wise beginning could look like.
What if someone could begin with the right business foundations already thoughtfully prepared?
What if the essential capabilities for selling, marketing + managing were designed to work together from the start?
What if the path forward were clear enough that people could spend less time wrestling with technology and more time bringing their own ideas to life?
And what if they could begin making meaningful progress much sooner than they’d imagined?
That was the kind of momentum I cared about.
Not rushing people past important decisions.
Not encouraging them to begin before they’d thought carefully about what they wanted to create.
But helping them move forward with the benefit of sound business thinking, thoughtfully prepared technology + a practical path they could follow.
Moving wisely shouldn't have to mean moving slowly. And moving quickly shouldn't have to mean compromising what you're building.
I wanted both to be possible.
A wise beginning.
And a wonderfully encouraging sense of progress.
The kind that helps you look at what you’ve already accomplished and think:
Well, would you look at that! I’m actually doing this! 😉
🦋 And Sometimes, That First Wise Step Changes Everything
I still smile when I remember those summer afternoons in France.
The shy glances.
The terribly awkward little greetings.
And that wonderfully determined little boy who apparently decided there were far better things to do than stand around waiting for everyone to remember how to have fun!
He was right about one thing.
There was a whole wonderful afternoon waiting on the other side of that first splash.
And while I certainly prefer a rather more thoughtful approach to getting a business started, I love what that memory reminds me of.
Sometimes, the possibilities we’ve been imagining begin to feel very different once we start experiencing them for ourselves.
A first product takes shape.
A service becomes something we can actually offer.
A business begins to feel less like a distant ambition and more like something we’re creating, one Wise Step at a time.
And with each meaningful step, we have something new to learn from, build upon + feel encouraged by.
That’s the kind of beginning I wanted to help make possible.
One where people could bring their ideas into the world with confidence, supported by the right foundations + encouraged by real progress.
Because the goal was never simply to help someone take a first step.
It was to help make that first step the beginning of something wonderful.
And by now, two ideas had become inseparable in my mind.
People deserved the sophistication needed to build a successful business. And they deserved a wiser, more practical way to begin putting that sophistication to work.
The question was how to bring those two things together.
And that, my wise friends, is where everything we’ve explored in this story begins to come together.
🎥 Come a Little Further Behind the Story REPLACE IMAGE N LINK
In this seventh Wise eDynasty Session, I share a wonderfully funny memory from our family summers in the south of France – and how one brave little boy, a swimming pool + a rather unexpected SPLASH! reminded me of something important about getting started.
Because sometimes, the difference between dreaming of something wonderful and beginning to make it real is simply finding a wiser way to take that first step.
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Every business begins somewhere.
And every meaningful business journey is built through the ideas we explore, the decisions we make, the lessons we carry forward + the Wise Steps we take next.
So before you go, I’d love to leave you with one Wise question of your own:
If you could take one meaningful Wise Step toward the business you've been dreaming about, what would you be most excited to begin?
Perhaps it’s finally bringing that wonderful idea you’ve been carrying around to life.
Creating your first product or service.
Sharing your knowledge + talents with people who would truly value them.
Or taking the next step toward building a business that supports the life you love living.
Whatever that first step might be, I hope you’ll remember something.
You don’t have to have every answer before you begin.
But you do deserve a thoughtful foundation, a clear path + the opportunity to move forward wisely.
Because sometimes, the most wonderful thing about taking that first step is discovering what becomes possible once you’re moving.
And who knows? Your own wonderful adventure might be just one Wise Step away! 🦋
Build wisely · Live freely · Love the life your eDynasty makes possible.
With Love And Hope For Your Wisest Success,
Angela van Hoeven
Wise Mama, Wife, Founder, CEO, & Creator of eDynasties
Angela van Hoeven
Wise Mama, Wife, Founder, CEO, & Creator of eDynasties
Wisely Inspire & Giggle