In Business You Must Try, Try & Try Again
Not everyone can be an instant success – in fact most are not. Here are some great reasons why you should keep the fight going even when the odds are against you.
The biggest band of all time, The Beatles, took to the stage in the United States for the first time in 1964. They had already won hearts across the ocean and expected to do the same in the US. Instead, they were bombarded with sour reviews from harsh critics:
“The Beatles’ vocal quality can be described as hoarsely incoherent, with the minimal enunciation necessary to communicate the schematic texts.” –The New York Times
“The big question in the music business at the moment is, will the Beatles last? The odds are that, in the words of another era, they’re too hot not to cool down, and a cooled-down Beatle is hard to picture. It is also hard to imagine any other field in which they could apply their talents, and so the odds are that they will fade away, as most adults confidently predict.” –Newsweek
Over the next ten, twenty, fifty years, The Beatles remained – and still remain – iconic musical giants. The above critics were wrong, as critics often are. Just like any new (and I mean really new) idea, it will usually be faced with some negativity. Don’t let this disappoint or discourage you. Instead, think of what Paul, John, Ringo and George would do and keep at it.
Here are other success stories that started out not-so-successful:
Bill Gates
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, actually dropped out of college – and not just any college. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard to start a company called Traf-O-Data. Suffice to say it didn’t go well, but Gates didn’t let that stop him.
Harland David Sander (aka Colonel Sanders)
The Kentucky Fried Chicken guru did not get to chicken fame on the first try. His famous secret chicken recipe was rejected at least 1000 times before someone decided to give him a try. Now the second largest restaurant chain in the world (according to Wikipedia), KFC is living proof that even after the 1000th rejection, it’s worth soldiering on.
Walt Disney
The founder of the Disney empire was fired from a newspaper editor job because he supposedly lacked imagination and had too few good ideas. After this incident Disney tried his luck with a number of businesses that ended in bankruptcy before finally finding success through his colorful imagination and surprisingly great idea of a well known mouse…
Fred Astaire
In Astaire’s first screen test with MGM the director noted that Astaire “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.”. This did not deter him from becoming outrageously successful. All the while he held on to the director’s note to keep him humble.
The lesson to be learned here is that not every idea will become the world’s next Disney World, Microsoft or Singin’ in the Rain, but take comfort in the fact that if you have failed 1000 times you might be getting close to the one idea that will work.
Keep in mind what Thomas Edison, American inventor, businessman and holder of 1,093 US patents once said, “I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”.
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