Persistence — the key to success

How do you become successful? How has anyone ever become successful?

Did all the wealthy business tycoons just have an idea one day and BOOM! They were successful!

If you look into their stories and how they became successful businessmen(and women, it's 2021) you will see it was not so easy. Their idea did not manifest success. Developing the idea is not what resulted in their success.

The entrepreneur story typically goes something like this: I have an idea, followed by developing the idea into some product, releasing the product to the world, then nothing really happens. The next event is what separates the successful from the unsuccessful. The unsuccessful thinks “I failed” and gives up. The successful thinks “I haven’t succeeded yet” then they make changes and keep going.

Thomas Edison said something to the effect of “I didn’t just discover 1 way to make the lightbulb, I first discovered 10,000 ways not to make a lightbulb.” What this means, is that if something doesn’t work right away, it doesn’t mean you failed, you have to make changes and keep going.

There is another piece to this success when you don’t find it immediately. Even if you have the best product ever, not everyone is going to say yes to it, especially in the beginning. The first person may think it's a good idea, but not worth the cost. The second person may not understand the value. The third through twentieth could have some mix of those two reactions to your product. If you keep going, and it’s a good product that will be useful, you will find someone who will understand your vision and the value of your product and you can get that first yes.

Now you have momentum and a proven track record. Now you can go to future customers and show them that it works and other people have found the value in your product. If you keep going, more and more will start saying “yes” and now you will join the ranks of the successful.