What personal, professional, financial or other fish do you pursue?

By Hightower Great Lakes on April 16, 2012

Last summer, I spent two weeks in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and I fly-fished the Yampa River several times.  I’m not very good at it, but I love the mental and physical challenges involved with fly fishing: fighting the current, alternating between walking and floating, struggling to hold the rod up, keeping my waders water free, swatting mosquitoes, and dodging branches on the river bank – all in a huge concentrated effort to catch that big fish.
Miraculously, I had found the right river bend, made a great cast and properly set the hook, and I had what looked like a beautiful, large Rainbow Trout on the line. Now I just had to bring him in.  After a twenty-minute battle down the river, I had him in my net. Joy and satisfaction filled my spirit.
Okay, so it wasn’t the biggest fish in the river (as my fishing friends have pointed out), but it has become my favorite fishing memory because everything worked that day.
As you look at the fish in that picture, you see the conquest.  You don’t see the time, effort, experience and resources invested to make that success a possibility.  Entrepreneurship is like that also.  Often times, you don’t see the strategies, adjustments, highs and lows, successes and failures that go into entrepreneurial success.  I’ve had fishing mentors like Buzz Gough, Rich Parks, Jeff Biesen, Steve Andrews and too many others to mention.  Although they weren’t on the Yampa River with me that day, they all helped me catch that fish.  I’ve also had many business mentors make a difference in my business successes in my career.  They are all with me today.  I wouldn’t be the same without them.
I have worked for 26 years as a CPA and CFP, advising business owners, helping them grow and manage their wealth. During that time, I’ve seen and personally achieved success and failure and have learned from both.  I’ve followed my passion to work with and for entrepreneurs and have found fascinating, insightful guidance along the way.  I’ve learned to not fear failures and instead treat them as experiences to learn from.  In business and fishing, you have to reach out for help and be willing to lose a few flies and break a few lines. Sometimes, you even have to let a few fish go.
To successfully follow your passion, you need to become more entrepreneurial, lose your fear of failure and constantly hone your business and communication skills.  Doing so will allow you to catch your personal, professional and financial dream fish.  More importantly, you will have control over how you catch it, choosing the rivers, streams, lakes or oceans you fish in.
What personal, professional, financial or other fish do you pursue?
Tim Scannell, CPA, CFPTM provides Personal and Business Tax Planning, Estate Planning, Investment Management, and Generational Wealth management to his clients. “We strive to deliver transparent, proactive, independent, and comprehensive planning and communications to the families we work for”.