Since I work from home, I am able to be flexible with my work schedule. On an average day, I work around 4 to 5 hours which gives me the time to be involved in the lives of my children.
This year I have decided to volunteer to coach my daughters girls basketball team. My experience in coaching 10, 11 and 12 year old girls is extremely limited, but so far I’ve had a blast. Having recently moved into the Thatcher school district, I wasn’t sure I would be chosen out of the many who had volunteered to be coaches this year. Most of them have graduated from Thatcher High and have been residents of this area since then. But when I received the call to coach, I was told that I came highly recommended. Can you say, “confidence boost?”
With that said, I’m a coach.
I can tell you this much, it’s weird being called “Coach!” I’ve gone by many titles….Elder, Dad, Dave, Private, Sir, Warrant Officer, Allred, Idiot, but never coach. But the more my players say it, the more it grows on me.
Our season opener was the weekend before Thanksgiving and was an amazing game. I only had five days to prepare my team for our first game, so I was a little bit nervous, to say the least. We were able to get in just two practices before the game, just enough to help the girls remember how to play organized basketball again.
Here’s how the game went down
The opening tip went to the other team, and if you’ve ever watched 4th, 5th and 6th grade girls play basketball, you know that there’s not a lot of scoring going on. There’s a lot of shots going up, but not a lot of points as a result.
During the first few minutes of the game, we were up 5 to zero. They quickly caught up and pulled into the lead. From that point on up until the last few minutes of the second quarter, we were just trading baskets and ended up being down by 7 points at half time.
The second half scoring was a little slower for our opponents than it was for us and we started closing the gap. With under a minute left in the fourth quarter, we were down by just one point and had possession. Although we had some good shots, we weren’t able to score and the other team took it down and added two more points to their lead making us three points down.
So, with just 9 seconds on the clock, I called a time out. In the huddle, I drew out a simple play that involved just one pick and at this point, I’m sure the other team thought they had the win in the bag. Who would think that 4th, 5th and 6th graders could shoot the three. The buzzer rang and I sent my team back onto the court. The ref handed the ball to my player for the inbound pass. The pick was set, but our go-to-man wasn’t open, so the ball was thrown to another team member who was open. She turned and launched the ball from three point land. It bounced off the backboard and went in.
Guys, the gym went crazy! It was amazing. With the sound levels in there, I would have sworn we were at a high school game.
That shot sent us into overtime, which ended in another tie. The final overtime period ended with my team winning by two points.
What an exciting season opener double overtime win!
This game taught me that I can have complete confidence in my players. As long as they’re prepared with a plan of attack, they’ll have a sense of direction and can improvise if needed.
The same applies to anything in life. The best drawn out play in the world can only work if you execute that play and improvise if needed.
I run into this over and over in my industry. My business is teaching others how to make money from home using a business model that has been drawn out, just like a play. It has tools, websites, instructions and people who are willing to train and teach. Yet, some still don’t succeed.
It’s because they don’t execute the play and they don’t improvise should the original play not pan out.
Just as our basketball season opener was an important part to the momentum of the rest of our season, so is your first few days, weeks and months in your newly started home business. If you pay attention, execute that play and then improvise when needed, you’ll come out on top!
David Allred is the author and creator of CFW. David has been teaching entrepreneur minded people how to earn a full time income working from the comfort of home for nearly a decade.
Think about it. Never miss your kids’ events, set your own schedule, choose your own income and enjoy a lifestyle and income which most people only drool over!
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