I found myself the other day thinking about a scene from The Karate Kid. You probably remember it. Mr. Miyagi. Daniel. A quiet moment. A bonsai tree.
Not a fight scene. No big tournament. Just a man and a boy, sitting in silence, shaping something small and alive with careful, deliberate hands.
It hit me. Harder than I expected.
That bonsai? I recognized it from afar…It’s my little business. And it could be your business too, your career or your life path.
Every journey starts with a choice. Or a calling. Sometimes both.
The entrepreneurial journey doesn’t always come with a big revelation. Sometimes, it’s quiet. Subtle. A thought that lingers too long. A discomfort you can’t ignore. A whisper that says, „This can’t be all there is.”
And so you move. You take that first step, often without knowing where the path leads. Maybe it’s a leap. Maybe it’s a stumble. But it’s yours.
That’s the thing most people miss. They believe that entrepreneurship must always be about the big idea or the billion-dollar valuation. But often, it’s about agency. About reclaiming your time, your energy, your life and saying: „I want to build something real. Something mine.”
And let’s be honest, the calling isn’t always pure. Sometimes it’s born from frustration. From watching incompetence rise. From sitting through another meeting that should’ve been an email. Sometimes it’s just a deep, aching hunger to prove to yourself that you’re capable and you deserve more.
And that’s okay. It’s human.
But once you’ve chosen, truly chosen the path, the game changes.
In the entrepreneurial world, you’re not just living anymore, you’re designing. You’re shaping. You’re choosing to walk away from comfort in favor of meaning. You’re staring uncertainty in the face and saying, let’s go.
Deep down, you’re not chasing ease. You’re chasing impact. And impact requires sacrifice. It demands clarity. You begin to see life not just as something to experience, but something to mold — with intention, with precision. Every decision becomes a brushstroke. Every product, a fingerprint.
You stop thinking in terms of „What do I want?” and start asking, „What problem needs solving?” You look around, at your potential customers— not as numbers, not as metrics — but as people. Real people, with real pain points. And you step into that gap. Willingly.
It’s not glamorous most of the time, it’s gritty. It’s lonely. It’s full of setbacks and days when the finish line feels like a mirage. You’ll spend hours on something no one sees, wrestling with complexity, second-guessing yourself, wondering if any of this will work.
But if you’re in it for the right reasons, you keep going. Not because it’s easy, but because it’s worth it.
And when you get it right, even just a little, it moves people. It creates something from nothing. Then you realize:this is what it means to be alive. To build. To serve. To create with purpose.
The story of a bonsai tree can serve as a profound metaphor for the journey of a business, especially one born from passion, shaped by challenge, and refined through intention.
Have you ever tried growing a bonsai?
Not just buying one from the store, already shaped and sitting pretty on some desk, I mean really growing one. From seed. From scratch. From nothing.
It’s slow. Frustrating. Messy. Half the time you don’t even know if what you’re doing is working. You’re watering something that barely grows. You’re investing in roots you can’t see. You’re shaping potential — not product.
But that’s exactly what makes it beautiful.
And that’s the story of building a business/ a career/a life path from the ground up.
See, in the beginning, it’s not about the height. It’s about the roots. It’s about giving your idea the space to stretch, to dig in, to absorb what it needs. That means more soil – more nutrients, it can be resources, more flexibility, more room to make mistakes without everything collapsing.
You need time.
You need patience.
And, most importantly, you need to surround yourself with people who understand it. Who feel it. Who know that trimming too soon kills the tree.
Now, resources are not infinite. Soil runs out. Eventually, that phase ends. And suddenly, the tree has to grow up. Fast.
Which means trimming the roots. Making choices. Cutting back. Focus. Strategy. No more wandering. No more „I’ll figure it out later”. Now it’s: which product? Which market? Which customer? Which bet?
That part, that brutal, make-or-break phase, that’s where most lose the plot.
You cut the wrong root, and the tree weakens.
You push too fast, and it fractures.
You wait too long, and the soil dries up.
That tension, that edge between freedom and focus, is the tightrope you walk every day as a founder, especially when your business is just starting out.
And yes, this is one of the hardest times. Especially for those who are watching the numbers. Watching the burn. Watching the runway shrink like a puddle in the sun.
There is a very fine line between holding back on cutting, protecting resources, and stretching a little longer until the roots are strong enough to handle the cut. Until you know which direction is true.
When the moment comes to start trimming, to focus, to scale, you’ll be ready. You didn’t rush it. You earned it.
You see, Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel: „Close your eyes, concentrate. Think only tree…”
He’s not talking about some tricks. He’s talking about alignment. That deep-down knowing that can’t be outsourced, can’t be crowdsourced, and certainly can’t be found in a Google Doc, a book no matter how good, or a ChatGPT response.
And in our world? That matters.
Whether you’re pitching investors, hiring your first team, deciding whether to pivot or persevere, that same lesson applies: Trust your instincts.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for data. Strategy. Planning. You need that scaffolding.
But don’t let it drown your instincts.
When your intentions are real—when they come from the gut, from the heart, not from ego or pressure or fear—they carry weight. They hit different. They’re valid. Even when no one else gets it yet.
The height will come. The growth will come. But not at the cost of the foundation. Not at the cost of the roots.
So if you’re in the early phase, whether it’s a startup, a side hustle, a career path, a passion you’re quietly feeding in the dead of night, don’t panic if it feels slow.
Don’t rush to trim. Don’t mistake movement for momentum. Tend to the roots. Trust the soil. And surround yourself with people who believe in the process.
Your instincts? They’re not soft. They’re not naive. They’re the distilled wisdom of everything you’ve lived, survived, and felt.
They’re your strategic advantage, if you have the courage to trust them.
Like trimming a bonsai, you’re not creating something from scratch. You’re revealing it. The shape was already there. You’re just patient enough, quiet enough, still enough to see it. And cut everything else away.
So here’s what I’ll leave you with:
Slow down.
Quiet the noise.
Feel the shape of the thing you’re building.
Don’t just chase the next phase. Don’t cut the branches just because everyone else is doing it. And don’t forget to look at the tree you’re growing, not the one you’re supposed to grow.
This is your story.
Your bonsai.
Your business.
Your career. Your life.
Shape it with care.
Trust your hands.
And when it finally stands tall — shaped, strong, and uniquely yours — you’ll know it was worth every painstaking, patient moment underground.
***
“If the root is strong, the tree will survive” Mr. Miyagi
When growing a business, every step needs to be sustainable, so aligning your business strategy with operational readiness is fundamental. The result? Smarter growth, stronger margins, and a brand that’s built to last.
If you are interested in collaborating with me (please see details on the Services page).or seeking a mutual exchange of value for the benefit of a wider community within a partnership, the way to reach out to me is by sending an email to monicarovcanin@klytie.eu or using the contact form on the website.
Grow smart, not just fast! Thank you for your time and for being part of this journey!
