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Hidden Strengths
Learning how to dig deep and find success despite overwhelming obstacles
by Shannon McRae
http://www.MyBusinessMag.com
Though you've never been a quitter, giving up sounds appealing when faced with overwhelming obstacles. Small-business owners overcome challenges every day. Making decisions and moving on after setbacks are skills you must adopt as soon as you decide to become a business owner. But some challenges - like the ones that threaten your physical, emotional or financial well-being - can't be solved in a snap. Those circumstances are the ones that make you want to close your eyes and wake up when it's all over. If you've ever questioned whether you could keep going, this story is for you.
Think you've had it rough? Few stories rival the life of Cyndi Masters, who would have had the right to give up long ago. Her unbelievable story of surviving a troubled childhood, debilitating accidents and life-threatening disease sounds like something straight out of a Hollywood drama. But to Masters, it's just the way her life turned out; and through it all she has been determined to keep herself - and her business - going.
Masters spent the first 17 years of her life shuffling between foster homes and state-run orphanages. Dropping out of high school, she traveled across the country and landed on the California coast. Determined to make something of herself, she started a business and was successful for the first time in her life. But a major motorcycle accident in her early 30s left her with traumatic brain injuries and physical scars. She was forced to close her business and survive on food stamps while she worked a part-time job.
"As I learned to accept my new self, I realized that my self-esteem comes from the actions I take with others - not money, success, memories, intelligence or looks," Masters says. "I moved forward with my life, just grateful to be alive."
But only a few years later, another blow threatened her grateful disposition: Masters was diagnosed with breast cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes. Once again she faced a difficult recovery and willed herself to keep going.
Two years later, after successfully finishing radiation and chemotherapy treatment, her life seemed to be looking up. She started a Web design firm, DBS>Interactive, with a partner in Louisville, Ky.
But then, a new trauma: In late 2003, Masters fell at home, injuring her neck and compounding an earlier injury from the motorcycle accident. Multiple surgeries kept Masters from upholding her portion of the then 4-year-old business.
"At that point I had already been through so much physical trauma that I felt like I might not be able to handle one more," Masters says. "I was physically and emotionally wiped out, and for the first time in my life, I felt sorry for myself."
Yet her business partner wasn't as sympathetic - he was tired of shouldering the workload while Masters recuperated. He asked that she sell her share of the business to him. "Understandably, he didn't want to go on the way it was anymore," she says. Rather than sell, Masters made a decision that may appear foolish to some, considering her health.
"With the possibility and threat of losing my business after so much sweat and tears, my pride must have kicked in," she says. "I was not willing to give up or give in. I called his bluff and bought him out."
Day-to-day operations were never Masters' strength; she was the sales star of the partnership. Yet now that the business was all hers, she had to manage it - along with her laundry list of health problems. "I was on powerful narcotics to deal with extreme pain, and looking back, I should not have tried to do any work at all," she says. "I had moments when I considered letting all of it go."
With the help of a few key employees (most of whom were under the age of 30), Masters hung onto existing clients and sustained the business for two years while she continued to recover. "I learned a real lesson in faith and human nature," she says. "I knew I couldn't do any of it alone. What a relief to know that the weight of the world, and its success or failure, is not totally dependent on me."
Looking back, Masters appreciates how ongoing health problems forced her to delegate. She counts her ability to let go of the little things as one of her greatest management strengths. And she's confident she can handle whatever comes her way.
"Today, I believe that I am in many ways stronger than ever - a better human being and a better business owner for having survived this last ordeal and all that came before it."
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