For a man with a banana on a ladder, Gayle Turner was doing more than helping local business people reach for new heights with what they learned at the Longwood Small Business Development Center's Southern Virginia Business Expo last week.

Turner, a nationally-respected business consultant, was encouraging them to reach inside.

Not inside a box.

Or a drawer.

Or a pocket.

But to reach inside themselves.

The banana was more than a sight gag. The yellow fruit favored by monkeys helped demonstrate the need to think outside the ruts of normal business culture. Plow your own row. Reap what you sow.

At the end of his humor-laden, wisdom-drenched keynote address/skit, Mr. Turner was asked a question by one of the business expo's attendees-what excited him most in the marketplace today?

But the Next Big Thing for your business isn't out there in the marketplace.

You will not find the most important thing at any www.website.

Search the worldwide web all you want, but the most important thing for you and your business is not there.

“The most important thing,” he answered, “is within us.”

Amen.

Plant that seed and you've got something.

Something no other business can offer.

Mr. Turner told his 200-plus audience that he wanted them to leave the business expo “with the sense that 'I can.' And he cited the famous Henry Ford nugget: 'Those who believe they can and those who believe they can't are both right.'

Slamming the point home, he said, “You may not be able to do it because you believe you can but I'm pretty damn certain that if you believe you can't you can't.”

So get a clear picture of just what it is you can do, Mr. Turner advised, and then go do it.

In everything life offers, not only business.

-JKW-