Roots. Unseen. Unattractive. Not in the limelight. Highly essential if you want good plant growth and, ultimately, good fruit. For every leaf above ground, there are probably hundreds more roots and root hairs working tirelessly to absorb the nutrients so vital for overall plant growth and ultimately a great harvest.

Do you want to have great harvests regularly? Whether it be durians or mangoes, corn or strawberries, great fruit means healthy roots. In periods of drought or in arid regions, roots can reach hundreds of feet underground to find the water and dissolved nutrients without which no fruit is possible. In fact, this is how “dry farming” is done; the plants are deliberately not watered in seasons of drought so that their roots reach down deep in order to get to the subterranean supply! Roots may also extend laterally as soil nutrients become depleted in the immediate vicinity of the initial root system. Do you reach deep and wide to get your nutrients? Are you investing in continuously nurturing your current business relationships even as you seek new ones? Are you helping your business allies, associates and contacts to increase theirs also?

Good fruit can be harvested on a regular basis when soil nutrients are replenished by adding manure or compost, or by keeping livestock that don’t eat the fruit you want. Are you continuously ensuring that the ground you are planted in gets fresh nutrients regularly? How are you doing that? Are you constantly coming up with new ways to help your clients succeed? Have you explored how you can do even more to help your clients’ clients succeed as well? How often do you “shop the competition”? Do you keep abreast of what is happening in adjacent industries? (I’m assuming that you already do so for yours!)

Remember, if you want good fruit to grow, focus on the roots below! Take action, nourish your roots and enrich your ground now!