Chamber Dinner Speaker Talks About Being Successful
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Jackie Gorski-jgorski@timesuniononline.com
WINONA LAKE - Chris Scheeren said he’s always been fascinated by how some of the best companies got to where they are and how they went about getting their success.
Scheeren, partner with Blue Barn Berry Farm LLC and owner of Empowering Voices Inc., told those attending Thursday’s 111th Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner, there’s no automatic formula for success.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in a letter in the Birmingham, Ala., jail the wheels of progress seldom turn effortlessly, he said. Scheeren said the community you want doesn’t just roll on by, it takes leaders to turn the wheels.
There are three things Scheeren observed that set apart a business’s essence.
The first thing Scheeren brought up was those businesses are made up of people who understand success is exponentially not finite. While most people are trying to get their next big scoop, the people that make the most impact are doing things like making unlimited water supplies. Incredible things have been able to be accomplished when competitors become collaborators.
The second thing Scheeren talked about was luck.
He said with the Super Bowl, besides the outcome of the game, the other things that is bet on is the coin toss. It made him think about how much people actually put in luck.
He talked about an opportunity he had when he was a senior at the University of Central Florida. At a conference the university hosted, a speaker was supposed to speak on the last day. Two hours before the speaker was supposed to speak, it was found out he wasn’t going to make it. Scheeren volunteered to fill in.
He called that opportunity a big break. He was in that arena. He showed up. He was prepared for that information because he had informed himself on the conference and when the opportunity came, he said he was ready.
Still, people attribute so many things to luck, he said. All luck is opportunity meeting preparation.
The third way is how we talk to ourselves.
He said he sees a lot of smart and talented people that don’t seem to think that of themselves. Scheeren said, even though he speaks for a living, he has times where he doubts people would be interested in hearing him speak. Then, he thought maybe he be able to spark something in someone who heard him speak and that spark turned into action.
He said changing the way you think about yourself will help in going after opportunities.
He said if God put a dream in your heart, you have everything you need to go after it.
