I am over zealous at times. Or quick to brainstorm and try new things. Fast out of the shoot perhaps, with new ideas, propositions or positions. You don’t know until you GO, right? (nod yes here 🙂 )
So sometimes that means I will fail. Sometimes, I will EPIC fail, (in front of a crowd) causing some sort of mess to clean up. Miscommunications, different net results than were expected…and yes- even hurt feelings can occur when we put ourselves out there. Steve Jobs, Mother Teresa, Oprah, Billy Graham, Henry Ford… they all made their share of mistakes. They are skin and blood like you and I! This helped them find the right paths to success. And it can help you too.
Inventions, start ups, paying it forward, new systems, they all come from “crazy” initial ideas. People call it crazy because it hasn’t been done or seen before. Raw daydreams of what could be. What IS possible. The dreamers, the doers, the visionaries…they put themselves out there. So when you do that, a lot…you will have more chances to fail. BUT…
You will also have more chances to shine. Y E S!
To discover more talents and strengths. To meet more dynamic people to collaborate with in this journey. And there will be success. Lessons learned. Friends made for life. Ideas born of both the successes AND failures of yesterday, which become the staircase for tomorrows amazing moments. Those are built from the ground we lay today, one idea and a time, and one step of action and faith simultaneously.
Step out. Speak up. Make mistakes. Be yourself. Be your greatness. Own your blind spots. Evolve. CREATE.
I think one of the best questions I can ask myself, or YOU as an Entrepreneur or Leader is: “How can I turn clients into evangelists for my business”.
I spent many years doing what I see a lot of folks still doing today; going from “Hero to Zero”.
It’s exciting. But Hero to Zero is also exhausting. H to Z is: every event, every client, you ARE doing a phenomenal job. And subconsciously at least you are praying that this will, for Karma’s sake, go ahead and replicate itself. It’s the nice idea that if you do an awesome job, then people will automatically refer you tons of business... and your reputation will catch like wild fire… and set the entire globe ablaze! Bliss! After all, as Zig Ziglar says “If you help enough people get what they want, you will get what you want.” Which is similar to what my favorite book says: “Treat others as you wish to be treated”. YES. This does lay the core foundation, I believe, for success to truly manifest… at least honest, healthy success. And yet there is much more to the formula for entrepreneurs to get what they want and need to thrive in business or life long-term. So- lay the foundation, and then?
What do the masters say? Well this in itself is confusing, at least for me. It’s like overnight, EVERYONE became an expert of something. (I suppose that includes me. *But it wasn’t overnight.) 🙂 Like “Social Media Experts” “SEO Experts” (there were experts in things before I ever knew what their initials meant!) “Law of Attraction Experts” and so on. Many of them say the same things, often. (which gets really boring) And then of course they will TOTALLY diverge just when you think you understand something, anything, and absolutely contradict one another… leaving you at square one. Oh goody- more EME. (entrepreneurial mental exhaustion)
THEN there are the trailblazers. The WORLD CHANGERS.
They are the ones who not only find their specific NICHE, develop way incredible products, but also leverage themselves so uniquely and/or dynamically in the marketplace. These mavericks often do this by rebelling against some of the very rules and the norm that we are “supposed” to follow. I like these guys and gals. In coaching clients on their Business or their Life, I don’t know of many people who want to be fenced in on every side. It makes us punchy. SO, let’s remember a couple of rule breakers who set themselves apart, and bucked the norm, to become industry giants. What specific lessons might we glean from their example?
The infamous, Steve Jobs.
We now remember him for his matchless (at least for now) innovations. But he was also known to be strong-willed, arrogant, and often overly sarcastic. Much of what Jobs did, runs completely counter to conventional beliefs about marketing. But based on results, maybe we need to be questioning more conventional beliefs. He didn’t befriend or BS the press. If anything- Jobs took on the press, and the people cheered. Instead of throwing himself shamelessly at every opportunity to answer questions about new or upcoming products, he avoided and darted them with enough of a hint of mischievous, that folks always assumed he was up to something ginormous. Fans were chomping at the bit to see him unveil. Even now, Apple-ites wait in crazy long lines to get a newly released Apple Product, as if were Oxygen. Just the joy of people and the press seeing that they are in the endless Apple line fuels their fanatical obsession. Momentum through mystery and come-and-get-me marketing. Brilliant. The lesson in Apple goes beyond the obvious slick products, and begs the question; How much of this success is also due to Job’s ornery and masterful enticement?
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Musk in 2008 took over the electric car company Tesla, that was on the brink of ruin. America loves a Cinderella story. Elon turned Tesla into one of the coolest trending cars and brands in the world. The Model S starts at $70,000 and can go over $100,000. At 41 years old, Elon grew up in South Africa, and made his other fortune as a co-founder of PayPal. He isn’t doing too bad. Again, he has taken on some of the arrogance, rebellious, obnoxious traits we apparently loved in Jobs. Of course- you can get away with being more annoying when you can back it up. Tesla’s fans not only include their owners, but those who cannot afford one, but who are ridiculously fanatical about the brand anyway. Negative reports or Tweets by a journalist about the sassy car or CEO are sure to get swarmed, and not lovingly, by these tireless fans who will go to great lengths to defend the brand. The negative advertisement usually comes back around for even more unwavering fan love back to Tesla. (and a bit more disdain for the press)
Anytime you can say just the first name of a person- and the whole freakin planet just knows….it’s big. Actually, you could probably just name this section the “O” section. Point made. And Oprah also bucked some “rules”. She was the first woman to be successful at Phil Donahue’s playground, the daily drama filled Talk Show. (I think you needed to be a drinker to truly appreciate those shows) Moreover, O impressed us all that she didn’t come from wealth, or a political family, or have a size o, White body, and model perfect looks. She was refreshingly normal, and the opposite of Hollywood… she had compassion. She is clearly brilliant- or at least crazy BRAVE. She turned the TV Talk Show genre on its head, when she took her show from trashy stories, into a personal development and empowerment hub. O modeled from the stage, her own position on how we should be: authentic, emotional and full of empathy towards others. She showed the world how following your gut instincts and staying true to your heart, desire and passion will lead you to greater results and victories than the norm. Even for those who disagree with her methods, beliefs, or how cult-like her fans responded to her….
I say take YOUR BELIEFS, and dare to be as brave, dedicated, and hard-working as Oprah. Jobs. Elon. YES! Dare to stare your worst, nasty critics and judges in the face who say you are going to fail. YES. Stay the course on those days when it seems like only darkness surrounds, and the light is a far off train. YES. Honor the calling you find on your life with unfiltered passion, unwavering determination, incomprehensible consistency, and daily tuning back into your core, to your “Why?”… Why do you do what you do? If your WHY is big enough, (and I do believe we were all given a HUGE, unique “why” by God) then you will one day realize as the train comes into closer view, it was just pure light at the end of the tunnel. Then perhaps our clients, but more importantly our friends and family, will be those zealous, tireless evangelists for us and all we are to be and do.
embrace real 