The Odds are on the 7's

In the heart of downtown, with the warmth of a weekend sun streaming through the large windows of the spacious loft/ yoga studio, I was recently certified in First Aid/ CPR, along with a dozen or so other yogis and yoginis in our cooperative, bi-city yoga community.

The First-Aid Instructor was a graduate of Ryerson University in the techie side of Graphic Communication.   But having grown up in the world of life-guarding,  this type of work resonated with her when the post-university, corporate world failed to satisfy.

She's created a great business model of travelling to administer the training to groups at their own site.  This keeps her overhead low since she can keep her equipment at home and she builds the travel costs and vehicular maintenance into the registration. And having her company information on her car means she can write part of it off as advertising.

Not only that but her client base will never become extinct. More and more, basic First Aid training is expected for any service industry that deals directly with the a continuous stream of clients as in all larger retail chains, hotels, schools and the list can and does go on. Not only that, but the re-certification is required every two years. So, as long as she makes the learning experience just that, a memorable experience, then she has an imbedded, never-ending client base. And she did this. We laughed, we learned and we left feeling confident in our ability to make a small difference in the world.

Here's the kicker. That difference we could make is really, really small.  The success rate of applying standard CPR techniques even if they're expertly performed on an unresponsive person, is 7%. That's it. That's all. Only 7%. When you add the use of an AED (defibrillator) then the rate skyrockets to 90% but those devices are not readily available in our concrete jungles yet.

In what universe is 7% good enough for anything? School grades? Company growth? Probability for relationship success?  How many of us would take those odds?

Yet this instructor dedicates her life to ensuring that as many people as possible are prepared for an eventuality that may never occur. She teaches techniques that remove the emotion, the guesswork and the accompanying panic so that perhaps one day , each participant she certifies could possibly be a member of the 7% Club.

Somehow, especially because of the odds, it seems like monumentally important work. Counter-cultural success that combines business saavy with tunnel-vision focus on what truly matters.  Unremarkable hard work for such small return, in one sense, but a viable business that empowers others to connect and support in whatever small way they can.  

Of course, I had a zillion other ideas of ways to expand and manage her client base, include train the trainer sessions and go national. But that's another story.  For now, I'm happy to go against the odds today and feel empowered with my little 7%.