55 Years Ago, I started my career as an Entrepreneur. I was 11 years old when I walked around my neighborhood, and asked my neighbors if I could mow their lawn for $2.00. I decided to start my Gardening Business to help pay for a brand new Raleigh Bicycle I had my eyes on, after visiting a bicycle store one afternoon with my Father.
Fortunately for me, my Dad just wasn’t able to offer much financial help [he worked 2 jobs, 16 hours each day, just to keep food on our table, and a roof over our head]. Instead, he taught me important “Entrepreneurial Lessons” which have served me well throughout my Entrepreneurial Career, and remain the bedrock and foundation of success I enjoy today.
Lesson 1: Never Give Up On Your Dreams: Early on in my Entrepreneurial Career, I leveraged an innate part of my personality. I NEVER GIVE UP! This single trait has served me very, very well throughout my career, and has often made the difference between ‘success’ and ‘failure’. Think about it. Quitting and giving up is the easiest thing you can achieve, especially when starting a new business! It’s easy to just say “I can’t do this”, when times are tough – and much easier to just walk away from your dreams, than to “tough it out” and pay the ultimate price of success. After all, dreaming and imagining a concept is easy. It’s implementation that’s the hard part! And to successfully “implement” – YOU NEED TO PAY THE PRICE AND SUFFER THROUGH THE LEARNING CURVE, WHICH IS PRESENT WITH ANY NEW BUSINESS VENTURE!
Lesson 2: If You Stick Around Long Enough, You Will Eventually WIN: If you think about it, when you start a new business [or take over an existing one] – there are only two basic options: Success or Failure. But, how do you succeed – when there are so many obvious ways to fail? Simple! If you stick around long enough, and just hang in there, you really have only one simple outcome: SUCCESS! This lesson is really the same as Lesson 1, but just said differently. Not only can you succeed by “Never Giving Up”, but – you can also succeed if you simply “Stick Around Long Enough”! Simply put: STAY PUT, WORK HARD – AND EVENTUALLY, YOU WILL SUCCEED!
Lesson 3: Learn From Your Mistakes: Mistakes Are A “Blessing In Disguise”! Think about it. If you make a mistake, and LEARN from the error – you’ve one step closer to perfection! And, in a sense – if you make lots of mistakes, and keep learning from them … over time, you will be an absolute genius when it comes to knowing all there is to know about the business you’ve become involved in. In fact, if you never make a mistake – you can consider yourself at an extreme disadvantage – since you will not have made any progress, nor will you have bettered yourself. So – always consider any mistakes you make a “blessing” – and just make sure that you LEARN from each and every one of them!
Lesson 4: When All Else Fails, Refer To Lessons 1, 2 and 3: There’s really no other way for me to say this any differently. If you just hold on, work hard – and learn from each and every mistake you make, I can all but guarantee you that you’ll soon be the most successful entrepreneur in your chosen field of interest. There’s really no other way to say it. There’s no “magic” to success. It’s readily available to each and everyone of us who’s willing to pay the price and work hard.
In Summary, If You Talk Yourself Into Believing That You’ll Never Be Successful, You’ll Eventually Prove Yourself Right. But – On The Other Hand, If You Just Keep Trying And Promise Yourself Never To Give Up, EVENTUALLY … YOU WILL SUCCEED!