Recently, I was launching a business development platform, and, along the way,
it seemed like everything was going wrong… every day it was something.
It even started to feel personal.
Demons? Karma? A past-life problem? Stinkin’ thinkin’?
My crash-landing into this world…
What?!?
Right then, I had a revelation that I thought you might appreciate.
In real estate, we know that the most important consideration is location.
Location. Location.
When venture capitalists and angel investors invest in companies,
the most important thing they look for is management.
Management. Management.
For achieving success, you’ll hear it over and over again…
the number one attribute of successful people is Persistence.
Persistence. Persistence.
- Colonel Sanders pitched Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) more than 1,100 times.
- Walt Disney pitched investors on Disneyland more than 600 times.
- Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hanson pitched Chicken Soup for the Soul to 153 publishers.
- Me? I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve presented my business planning software,
but so many people need it, I just keep going.
The Navy SEALs know about persistence.
(I’m not one, but I’ve seen movies and talked with a few…)
“Hell Week” is their test to see if you really can persist no matter what they (or the enemy) throws at you.
Want to quit? Ring the bell. “Come on, ring the bell!”
It’s that easy. But not if you’re determined.
Isn’t that someone you’d want with you when the SHTF?
On the Disney Channel, there is a documentary featuring George Lucas and his making of the first Star Wars film.
Watching Star Wars was great, but who knew that while making it, just about everything went wrong…
with just about everything. It rained in the desert after a 50-year drought, R2D2 wouldn’t roll straight,
the camera rigs had to be invented from scratch…
Problem after problem, right up until release.
And the rest is history.
Watch the film, “The Founder” starring Michael Keaton in the role of Ray Kroc as he builds McDonald’s from
one small restaurant into a global chain. The quirky things that went wrong, the interesting things about food
service they had to consider, and the bullets he dodged along the way. Who knew freezing ice cream could
be so expensive, that the mechanics of serving burgers, fries, and shakes were choreographed on a tennis
court, and that bright lights promoting their grand opening would also attract millions of flying bugs?
Most people would’ve given up.
But the rest is history.
Perhaps you’ve heard some of the stories about the production of the movie, “Jaws” by Steven Spielberg.
Again, how can one have so many production problems? Why does what may seem like everything have
to go awry or just not work? A mechanical shark… What could go wrong?
Nevertheless, Spielberg persisted.
And the rest is history.
I too, when launching my new Business Power Tools dashboard, ran into my own series of otherwise
unthinkable problems that seemed to never end. Software crashes, webpage crashes, email sending issues,
and just Life. When I heard myself mutter, “It’s always something!”
I thought, “Hmmm… Maybe THIS is a KEY PART of the Journey?!?”
And then my “light-bulb” moment…
Think about it. Given the pattern above and my situation, perhaps this “struggle”
(similar to a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly) comes after a long period of conscious effort and is actually…
a good sign!
It’s like a final exam – one last big test before I fly.
After all, how many people are fortunate enough to be in a position to produce a film, build a global franchise,
join the world’s most elite fighting force, or launch an all-in-one business development platform?
Maybe everything going wrong and working to fix-it 24/7 is my own personal hell week —
just before graduating to a higher level of success.
How exciting is that?
Because the rest will be history!
Next is a related and touchy subject for sure…
But something must be said for the good of all.
A while back, I responded to a blog by a woman who had pitched her business concept to about a dozen investors and
concluded that there is some kind of prejudice against women in business.
Yes, there is…
And, depending on who you talk to, that’s relevant.
However, as I wrote to her, you just need to talk to enough different people, with a variety of biases, interests,
and perspectives—to find those favorable to you and your cause to get what you want.
The operative concept here is… enough.
While it’s do-able but likely that just a dozen isn’t enough.
It no longer really matters where you come from, your gender, or your color,
it’s what’s in your head and your heart that counts.
Sometimes, when your concept is so good,
and maybe pushing the limits of what has been acceptable,
it takes a lot of convincing to get it going.
Sanders, Disney, Lucas, Spielberg, Canfield & Hanson…
These guys aren’t better, they just went further.
You have many cards you can play.
A great idea, an amazing skill, previous success, an A-team,
technical knowledge, secret information, an alien in your attic,
your grandmother’s favorite recipe, the list goes on,
and you have many of them.
We all have them, but I humbly recommend not playing your color or gender card too soon or too often.
More often than not, whatever it is, it can become your own stopper—what you think is the basis
for your struggle, and you may neglect to play some of your other perhaps more potent cards.
The combination of cards that make you truly unique and special, different and better, above and beyond.
If you don’t play them who will you be?
Who will know?
What could you have accomplished?
Best if you figure out how to play all of them.
In marketing, there is an old adage, “If you can’t fix it, feature it.”
Whatever your issue, work with it.
Refine it… Evolve it… Leverage it…
Persist.
Play your cards right and you can get where you want to be,
faster than Sanders, Disney, Canfield & Hanson… ever did.
(Jack Canfield is happy to share exactly how to do it.
And I have software tools you can use.)
That’s it for business and success.
Now on to the success of humanity…
Hold this thought: The part above about persistence with investors, publishers,
and through everything that went wrong while making iconic movies…
and how everyone behind them succeeded by persisting.
OK.
Today, we’re faced with a pandemic, political disagreement, financial crisis, climate crisis,
unemployment, hunger, homelessness, wars, the Chinese, the Russians…
it almost seems like everything is going wrong at once.
(It’s actually been going wrong for a long time,
but now it’s all bobbed to the surface for all to see.)
Nevertheless, we need to either deal with it or die.
So, what would Col. Sanders, Disney, Lucas, Spielberg, Canfield & Hanson, the Navy SEALs… do?
Extrapolating from my light-bulb moment above, this could actually be a “high-class” problem.
While I usually define this as one’s dilemma choosing the color of their new Ferrari,
we (you, me, and 7 billion others) are on Earth, now, in 2022, guiding, witnessing,
and working to usher humanity over this tipping point.
How cool is that?
I think it’s do-able.
As far back as 1983, R. Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller (1895-1983, an American philosopher,
systems theorist, architect, and inventor) warned us that, “Integrity of the individual is what we’re
being judged for and if we are not passing that examination, we don’t really have the guts,
we’ll blow ourselves up. It will be all over. I think it’s all the difference in the world.”
Are we fit to continue as a species?
There is a place where we can all start.
(Remember that thought you’re holding?)
What’s in your heart and head?
Will you tuck your tail between your legs and go home?
(“It just wasn’t meant to be…”)
Or persist?
No matter what.
Because the rest will be history!
