Recently, The Arizona Republic held a networking breakfast to honor current and former winners of its “35 Entrepreneurs 35 and Younger” competition. Laurie Merrill, who writes for the Republic, asked some of the attendees to share their advice for business success. Some of their responses are listed below:
- Have a no-fail mind-set.
- Failure is not an option.
- Never give up.
- Follow your passion
- Don’t think about doing it. Just do it
These are the same nuggets of advice that have served as the staple for books on success for the more than a century. Success has always been a matter of passionately staying with something until you succeed. Remember, Thomas Edison had more than 3,000 failed experiments before he came up with the first commercially successful light bulb—he hung in there until he succeeded.
Carry yourself as a Champion, to become a Champion.
· During one point in my career I managed a start up / direct marketing entry into the metro-Cleveland area. The scope and investment was substantial, requiring financial resources up front. With a development team in place, we were making progress, with the profitability goal 3 to 4 years into the future. I had a team of 85 associates and 20,000 sq. ft. of office space. Yet it was critical to our overall success that we lead with the example of a Champion, as we established customer relationships, even though we were losing $50,000 per month during the development stage. Eventually, we achieved our goal of profitability and annual sales of $10,000,000 and growing. Customers want to identify with Champions.
Thanks Bob,
Thank you for commenting. Your’s is a wonderful and uplifting story. You’re totally right when you say “customers want to identify with champions.” In fact, everyone does. That’s why there are so many New York Yankee fans. I hope all is well. Ross