The One

Over the past few months I’ve come across this quote several times “One day someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else.” – Unknown

Now, going by the usual photos that accompanies this quote, it is meant as a comfort for all those people who have not yet found that special person to share their life with – and in my opinion, a true quote. But this week something went ‘click’ and I suddenly saw this quote from a completely different perspective.

As an entrepreneur it describes perfectly when you finally find that person to seal the deal with, to become partners with, or that person that CAN help you get what you need.

This is where we are at now. Or almost are.

If this current person is The One, then the quote would ring true.

It would make us see why in 2004 the ‘mum and dad’ investors didn’t work out.

Why in 2005 the rescue package/venture capitalists didn’t work out.

Why in 2006 the Youth Academy funder didn’t work out. 

Why in 2011 the famous Armenians we approached didn’t work out.

Why in 2011 the Slovenian investment manager, who we spent seven months waiting for, didn’t work out.

Could this new person be it? He ticks all the boxes, even more so than we ever dreamed possible. There are so many positives. And we tried looking for negatives, but couldn’t come up with any.  

Only time will tell if this is it – a month or two should do it!

"A dream you don't fight for will haunt you for the rest of your life."  - Robots, the movie

A story of triumph

We love the Rocky movies.

They inspire, entertain and have you on the edge of your seat.
But only very recently have I looked into the Sylvester Stallone story, after my husband read about it and mentioned it to me. It's one of the most inspirational stories I've ever heard. 

It begins with Stallone being disfigured due to an incident at birth. You can watch the clip, which is Tony Robbins re-telling what his friend, Sylvester Stallone, told him.
Or you can read the story here.
Sylvester Stallone's main goal was to inspire people.

"The greatest revenge is massive success."
 

Perseverance to Inspire

The last two days I've had a blog post forming in my head. You know the feeling when things around you happen, or you read things, see things and it all links together, like a web.

To round out my post I did some research and came across a blog post by Growthink that basically said what I wanted to.

It includes seven (condensed) entrepreneurs' stories including Steve Jobs; Walt Disney; JK Rowling and more. The point made is perseverance. Not giving up. Anyone who achieved anything big had to be persistent and patient and never lose sight of the dream.

I will add to that list Abraham Lincoln, who lost eight elections and failed in two businesses before becoming President of the USA, at the age of 51.
Also Colonel Sanders, who was turned down one-thousand and nine times before his chicken was accepted once!

All this brings me to the book I'm reading at the moment:
This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
An amazing story of perseverance and purpose. The story of a strong woman who did what she thought was right, regardless of what a corrupt government said.
One of her most recent quotes, from her fanpage, while she campaigns for another term:
"Remember the race is not to the swift, but those who endure to the end will be rewarded for their endurance."

On that note, I will continue to sit on my hands and wait for these new developments to unfold.

Emotions

Have you ever had one of those weeks where so much happened in your life, but you feel like you haven’t achieved anything? That’s me this week.

While I had prepared family things for Valentine’s Day (baking, cards etc), I hadn’t, and couldn’t have been prepared for the onslaught of emotionally draining baggage.

Early in the week I found out a dear friend had made a short documentary about repatriating to Armenia. My husband translated for me as we watched. It left me an emotional wreck. What she was saying about the feeling of living in Armenia was exactly how I feel. Tears flowed, emotions that had been pushed down rose up and erupted.

This had followed a trip to the shops the previous weekend, where I had that familiar overwhelming feeling that I don’t want to be here, that I want to be living where I feel at peace and where I feel home is – Armenia. It’s a feeling that has never left me, and only becomes stronger since our return to Australia at the end of 2005.

This week has been full of emotions erupting about this subject, emotions that had been suppressed in order to function in day to day life here – an inner agony that I’ve had to silence.

Our children have known since our return that living in Australia is temporary. The dream has never died. Over the last 10 months we have worked very hard to get our project up and running again. And we thought we’d done it when we had someone very interested in a 50% partnership. It came to the stage of signing a contract and transferring funds. And then it fizzled out. So close, yet so far away. It’s the closest we had come since 2005.

Unless you’ve lived this, you have no idea – when you’ve worked hard to make your dream come to life and (finally!) you have someone who says “Yes, ok, let’s do it!” and that person continues to reassure you that “Yes, we’re doing it, there's just a delay in funds clearing and transferring”, and so you start planning travel arrangements, you start to tell family about it. Then that person fades away as if none of it was said – it leaves you crushed.

But because we’re committed to this cause, and it is, we believe, our life purpose, we WILL find a way to make it happen.

As Winston Churchill said “Never, never, never give up”

We will find that partner who shares our vision to (as my husband would say) ‘revolutionise Armenian football’. That person is out there, we just need to find them!

Yerevan United WILL return to Armenian Football one day, God willing. And then all those fans and ex-players that keep sending us emails, will rejoice!

Constantly improving

As we sit here waiting for the phone call that will change our lives forever, we read news from Armenia daily. Most of it is good: tax reforms; corrupt police being questioned, or fired; big business developments by international Armenian businessmen, in Armenia; public voicing their opinions etc.

Today I came across this article and thought it is such great news.

From memory, Orange Armenia received some bad reviews in the past for slow internet/bad coverage. But perhaps with improvements they now have the formula right.

With their investment in Armenia reaching US30 million by the end of 2011, I assume they are planning to stay.

This computer room they recently helped set up in Tavush village is an awesome initiative. Tavush village is in Tavush marz (state) in the North-Eastern corner of Armenia. Tavush marz is known for its mountain and forest scenery sprinkled with beautifully sited historic monasteries (ie absolutely beautiful). 

Two thumbs up for this project – a great way to connect villagers to the rest of the world.

Tavush marz

Faith and patience

Today, as we come close to ‘sealing the deal’, we reflected on wether we will remember the journey when we get to the destination. It’s been seven years since the dream was born, six years since the first attempt. Five years since the second attempt.

Five years of living a ‘normal’ day to day life, with a dream coursing through our veins as we rack our brains trying to think of ways to make it happen.

Five years of wondering if the dream will ever happen, while having the faith and patience to continue to dream.   

Seven years of listening to doubters around us, of being called selfish for pursuing something we’re passionate about, something we believe in. (we also have family and close friends who have shown nothing but support).

When the belief is so strong, you just know it’s all going to fall into place sometime, and you live every day not knowing when that ‘sometime’ will eventuate. But you just continue to go about doing what you need to do, trying different options, working on your plans, because you know soon everything will pay off because you have faith that it will.

So, now we are coming towards the end of waiting. Soon our life will change, and our children’s lives too, for the better. Soon we will be doing what we feel we were put on this earth to do.  

Pass me the remote!

So right now we’re waiting. We’ve come to the point where all we can do is wait, and have plenty of patience.

When you’re waiting for the meeting to begin negotiations on the deal that will give you The Dream, it’s like waiting for Christmas, without knowing exactly when Christmas will come.

Every day you go about doing normal every day things, speak to normal every day people, meanwhile you know that a snap of the fingers (or ‘the meeting’) and it all changes. The people you interact with, who know your story, and know how close you are to The Dream, are amazed by just how big what you’re about to do is. They nearly can’t believe that you’re standing next to them talking.

The only way I can describe it is surreal.

Today I was wishing I had a universal remote, like Adam Sandler in the movie Click, then I could fast forward this time to The Meeting and then (hopefully) The Contract Signing.

 
So close now…