One of my hobbies is bonsai.
Outside in my garden, I have many coniferous bonsai trees that I slowly train into interesting shapes. The branches of the tree are wrapped in stiff wire that allows the branches to be bent into different shapes. The objective is to get the small trees to look like big trees.
Inside I grow figs. I selected figs because they’re easy to start, just throw them in water, and they grow relatively fast. The fig trees I grow over interesting shape rocks so that the roots wrap around the rock. This makes them look like old trees that you find in the jungle growing over ruins.
Both types of Bonsai teach me patience. Keeping the final objective in mind and keeping up with the continued care is a great metaphor for entrepreneurship. It takes time to grow a business, but in the meantime, you need to do all the activities to keep the business growing even if you are seeing the results immediately.
With Bonsai it is easy to take before and after pictures to see the change. On the other hand, just watching the bonsai it seems as if nothing happens.
It is patience that gets us to our final goal, it is patience that gets us through hard times, it is patience that gives us the opportunity to grow.