I live in South Florida. In all of the relocation brochures and tourist publicity about Florida, never do they mention the bugs, the snakes, the alligators, the iguanas, the ants and other wildlife that flourish here in the Sunshine State. 

We all hope for world peace.  Since I was a child, people have always talked about how the next war or conflict was going to create everlasting peace. But observing the bugs, snakes, birds and other wild creatures here in Florida, I realized, but don’t really understand why somebody is always eating somebody.  The bugs eat other bugs, the lizards eat the bugs, the birds eat the lizards and the bugs, the snakes eat the bird eggs, for example.

Recently, I observed one of our neighbors on their knees around the palm trees in their front yard.  It’s really unusual to see people outside their air-conditioned houses in South Florida – especially in the summer months. 

To my surprise, they were hovered over a tiny baby owl that had fallen out of its nest.  They were calling everyone they could think of to see how they could save the life of this bird.  Now this was certainly a humane and admirable thing to do.  To them the bird was a cuddly little baby they wanted to save.  But think about this:  to the snake, lizard or mouse, the owl was an enemy. When the baby owl grows up it will view them as prey – as breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Somebody always eating somebody. It’s the cycle of nature.

I hope and pray for world peace someday.  But the moral of this story is:  If you are not present with your business and understand exactly what is going on – improving your operations, hiring and retaining the best, prospecting for new business while holding on to your current customer base, capturing your sales goals month after month and gaining marketplace over the competition… One of your competitors will will gobble up your business.