Re earlier post how did those now in the novice stage and beyond get passed the first few challenges
 

of starting their business?
Following on from Diens and Boyds earlier posts myself and Im sure many others are at the stage where its a question of whether we value our lives enough to really step out and make it happen.
So how did the people who are currently making it deal with the opening moments of their businesses?
ie the self esteem side, the belief that they could sell what they were offering.
How were the first few customers obtained so allowing them to learn how to start running the business?

While we starters are sitting here, thinking its more difficult than perhaps it is, fearful of failure, fearful of too much early success and not being able to handle it, the above points being covered will assist us
Thankyou for your time

Mike Bailey

For many, luck played a major role
 

Hi,

First, you articulated something in a way that I'd never thought of, and that I really like:

You wrote:
> Following on from Diens and Boyds earlier
> posts myself and Im sure many others are at
> the stage where its a question of whether we
> value our lives enough to really step out
> and make it happen.

That really is the core question, isn't it? Most of the time I feel deep down that I don't really value my life enough to work as hard as I know I'll have to work. That feeling bothers me a lot, and makes me question myself and my motives.

To give my viewpoint about the question you asked:

Many people, maybe most people, who got the ball rolling did it because pure luck intervened in their favor. They were at the right place at the right time with the right skillset, and / or they met someone who was actually willing to altruistically help them get started in the field they were born to work in. Once they had the ball rolling, they simply duplicated and expanded a formula that they had already found to work for them.

Bill Gates' success is 95% pure luck, in my humble opinion. Not only was he in the exact right place at the exact right time with the exact set of skills and the sure knowledge of what he wanted to do with his life, but his mother even knew the Chairman of IBM and was able to arrange an introduction!

If you watch "Biography" on TV religiously like I do, you've probably noticed how overwhelmingly prevalent pure luck is in people's successes. Clint Eastwood was (first instance of amazing luck) born looking like Clint Eastwood and was (second instance of amazing luck) visiting a friend at the studio, and he happened to pass someone in a hallway who said, essentially, "Boy, I wanna put you in th' movies!"

That's why the people I admire are the ones who succeeded without fate intevening on their behalf. Col. Sanders and Milton Hershey are two examples of people who succeeded despite long-term bad luck (even then, they succeeded because they were contributing to an ongoing societal trend). Walt Disney is another--he went bankrupt twice and had a nervous breakdown during his decades-long striving for success.

Whenever I hear someone say "I've done wonderful things!" I always wish I could get a truthful answer to "What part did pure luck play in your initial success?"

Luck is a bitch, and that's a fact.

Just my two cents, as usual.

Best,

-Boyd

In other words
 

Hi,

In other words, success is either effortless or extremely difficult.

Effortless: Suzy Supermodel is (first instance of amazing luck) born looking like Suzy Supermodel and is (second instance of amazing luck) walking down the street when she happens to meet someone who gets her started in the modelling business. After making millions Suzy writes a book telling how she succeeded and *you can, too!* (yeah, right). Celine Dion is (first instance of amazing luck) born beautiful and with a one in ten million voice (though her IQ is nothing to boast about) and then (second instance of amazing luck) meets someone (her future husband) who moves mountains to help her succeed. Jodie Foster had about six instances of amazing luck.

If I'm smart, this will be the last message I post on the marketing boards.

Cynically yours,

-Boyd

True Words
 

Cynical Boyd?

I don't think so.

In fact, your post reminds me of another similar post years ago. You may recall it... "A desparate note of randomness".

Baby Mugs. Video Fireplace. et al. Remember?

We've all heard the story of the homeless woman come cheesecake success, right?

How many people all over the country also have a plethora of tasty recipes for cheesecake? How many try to sell em? Lots I imagine.

But how many were homeless and living in a car? And how many could use that unique thing and have newspaper stories written about them? Only her I bet.

I'm big on the idea of something being able to be duplicated.

Unfortunately, most "success stories" involve a desparate act of randomness. And those acts of randomness center around people who, at the time, were not interested in nor entertaining the thoughts of success.

There are many successful people who are successful as a result of pure hard, consistant effort over a period of time. BUT, the media never writes about them. They go about their business and no one knows. They are the silent successes. Or rather, the more silent successes.

But even those have an element of chance about them.

KFC's originator may have had to knock on 10,000 doors before someone took on his recipe. But what if the person who'd taken on the recipe just happened to be the fist door knocked on?

Either way, the success of KFC can be broken down into Making A Contact With Someone Else That Makes or Can Make It Happen. Getting a break in other words.

I spent a good deal of Sunday chatting with a guy. His business makes about $62k a year in the hand. He has a total of 6 customers. Wanna know how it began?

He got one customer. Just one. An Asian restaurant on a corner. A little while later the Italian restaurant across the road also became a customer. Then, just up the road, one restauranteur with five Indian restaurants, became a customer. Then another Asian restaurant across the road became a customer. Then one of the customers (another business owner) of one of the restaurants became a customer. And finally, the place his girlfriend worked at became a customer.

Not counting the customer who employs his girlfriend, which could be a case of nepotism, he has five customers in total. But it all began with just one. The first one. A single contact who gave him a break, so to speak.

But he never would have made that contact if he'd just sat at home. He took action. Just enough to get one single customer.

One single customer.

Just one.

One.

Doesn't seem so hard to get.

Perhaps, and I could be speaking out of my hat here, the problem lays in the conceptualized size of a business people consider.

1000 customers giving me $50 a year each is $50k a year.

Boy, what a lofty goal considering you don't even have one customer.

Remember how I mentioned a while back to break things down?

So, break it down. Break it down into its smallest components.

You'll always come to that first single customer.

So instead of concentrating on getting 1000 people to pay you $50 each. How about concentrating on getting just one.

When it's just one it doesn't seem so hard. It's only one customer. Just one. A first one.

Maybe that first one will refer others to you. Maybe they won't. Either way it's a start.

And after that first customer, you can then concentrate on getting just one other customer. After that second... concentrate on getting just one more. So now you have three.

Three doesn't seem like much, but remember the guy I just told you about... he only has 6.

Who knows, after that first one an act of randomness may strike you too. It may not... but you'll never know unless you get the first, single, solitary customer.

Michael Ross.

Yikes I hope everyone's memory isn't as good as yours! [DNO]
 

dno

> Cynical Boyd?

> I don't think so.

> In fact, your post reminds me of another
> similar post years ago. You may recall it...
> "A desparate note of randomness".

> Baby Mugs. Video Fireplace. et al. Remember?

> We've all heard the story of the homeless
> woman come cheesecake success, right?

> How many people all over the country also
> have a plethora of tasty recipes for
> cheesecake? How many try to sell em? Lots I
> imagine.

> But how many were homeless and living in a
> car? And how many could use that unique
> thing and have newspaper stories written
> about them? Only her I bet.

> I'm big on the idea of something being able
> to be duplicated.

> Unfortunately, most "success
> stories" involve a desparate act of
> randomness. And those acts of randomness
> center around people who, at the time, were
> not interested in nor entertaining the
> thoughts of success.

> There are many successful people who are
> successful as a result of pure hard,
> consistant effort over a period of time.
> BUT, the media never writes about them. They
> go about their business and no one knows.
> They are the silent successes. Or rather,
> the more silent successes.

> But even those have an element of chance
> about them.

> KFC's originator may have had to knock on
> 10,000 doors before someone took on his
> recipe. But what if the person who'd taken
> on the recipe just happened to be the fist
> door knocked on?

> Either way, the success of KFC can be broken
> down into Making A Contact With Someone Else
> That Makes or Can Make It Happen. Getting a
> break in other words.

> I spent a good deal of Sunday chatting with
> a guy. His business makes about $62k a year
> in the hand. He has a total of 6 customers.
> Wanna know how it began?

> He got one customer. Just one. An Asian
> restaurant on a corner. A little while later
> the Italian restaurant across the road also
> became a customer. Then, just up the road,
> one restauranteur with five Indian
> restaurants, became a customer. Then another
> Asian restaurant across the road became a
> customer. Then one of the customers (another
> business owner) of one of the restaurants
> became a customer. And finally, the place
> his girlfriend worked at became a customer.

> Not counting the customer who employs his
> girlfriend, which could be a case of
> nepotism, he has five customers in total.
> But it all began with just one. The first
> one. A single contact who gave him a break,
> so to speak.

> But he never would have made that contact if
> he'd just sat at home. He took action. Just
> enough to get one single customer.

> One single customer.

> Just one.

> One.

> Doesn't seem so hard to get.

> Perhaps, and I could be speaking out of my
> hat here, the problem lays in the
> conceptualized size of a business people
> consider.

> 1000 customers giving me $50 a year each is
> $50k a year.

> Boy, what a lofty goal considering you don't
> even have one customer.

> Remember how I mentioned a while back to
> break things down?

> So, break it down. Break it down into its
> smallest components.

> You'll always come to that first single
> customer.

> So instead of concentrating on getting 1000
> people to pay you $50 each. How about
> concentrating on getting just one.

> When it's just one it doesn't seem so hard.
> It's only one customer. Just one. A first
> one.

> Maybe that first one will refer others to
> you. Maybe they won't. Either way it's a
> start.

> And after that first customer, you can then
> concentrate on getting just one other
> customer. After that second... concentrate
> on getting just one more. So now you have
> three.

> Three doesn't seem like much, but remember
> the guy I just told you about... he only has
> 6.

> Who knows, after that first one an act of
> randomness may strike you too. It may not...
> but you'll never know unless you get the
> first, single, solitary customer.

> Michael Ross.

Re: True Words
 

Michael & Boyd -

Excellent thread. That sort of thing happened to me a while back.

A friend asked me if I'd teach a few marketing classes at a large non-profit's national convention. $500 and expenses for a day in Houston TX. I agreed, even though the fee was "below" level, but I desperately wanted to break into the non-profit world, plus I enjoy doing training.

I was in sort of an inspired zone during one of the classes, caught the notice of one of the executives who attended the class, was asked to lunch by another division from the same non-profit and asked to do a "quick and dirty" business unit evaluation (for a lot more than $500).

That evaluation led to a three year retainer contract in a lot of consulting areas, and additional contract some years after that.

All told, the ONE DAY $500 training job led to about $500,000 in business over 7 years. All because I helped out a friend whose original speaker caught the flu!

So, was there luck involved? Absolutely! Was timing key, yes. But, I focused on the one client and parlayed that into lots of work, both with the original and about five other organizations.

So I guess I've been one of the quiet ones who used the techniques and reaped the rewards of good luck, at least for awhile!

Bob

Create your own "luck"
 

Hi Michael,

Great post!

> Not counting the customer who employs his
> girlfriend, which could be a case of
> nepotism, he has five customers in total.
> But it all began with just one. The first
> one. A single contact who gave him a break,
> so to speak.

> But he never would have made that contact if
> he'd just sat at home. He took action. Just
> enough to get one single customer.

I believe this is the key....

I generally believe that, in most cases, you "make" your own luck. How can that be?

By this I mean, you're ready to leap at opportunities when they present themselves....

I believe we have many great opportunities pass by us, perhaps several each year.

But when an opportunity presents itself, many of us do one of these things....

(1) We don't recognize it as an opportunity, or
(2) We do recognize it, but then convince ourselves that it's not really an opportunity, or
(3) We let our fears get the better of us, or
(4) We're too lazy.

And as a result, the window of opportunity slips away....

Even highly successful people miss many great opportunities every year. I don't think it's possible to take up every opportunity that comes your way....

And often those opportunities don't just sail by.... In many instances, you create them....

One way is by writing to the right people. I've done this before....

In 1994, I was still working on my Ph.D. But I was being "daring" and with my research, I was going into a field which there really were no experts for in my university.... So, to be sure my work was on a solid basis, I wanted to work with an eminent researcher in this field.

I made a list of names of the people I wanted to work with, with the top names at the top.

Then, I sent out an email, the first email went to the guy at the top of my list. My plan was to work down the list, until someone accepted me to visit and work with him.

Luckily for me, the guy at the top of my list accepted -- and I spent 5 months working with Professor Raymond Chiao, one of the world's top experts in quantum optics (which was my field), at the University of California, Berkeley. (If you want to look him up, he appears in science news articles regularly, especially regarding faster-than-light effects. Just do a search for his name on the WWW.)

So, was it "luck"? I think that clearly, a lot of this "luck" I created myself.... Even if Prof. Chiao didn't accept me, I had a list of many other names -- all also top researchers in the field -- to continue emailing....

I believe that practically any other Ph.D. student (at least under the Australian university system) could have done what I did. But most don't.... I think many of them don't even think of it. Or if they do think of it, they dismiss it as impossible. Or even if they think it's possible, then their fear defeats them (a fear of rejection)....

I think a fear of rejection is perhaps the biggest fear that's good to overcome.... I must admit, I sometimes still struggle with this, but I've generally had my greatest successes when I've consciously pushed any fear of rejection out of my mind.... And had courage.

Now, that case was an opportunity that, to a degree, I created myself....

But opportunities also sometimes just jump out at you unexpectedly, and you have to make a fast decision whether to grab them or not....

However, I do believe that you can, to a large degree, through your actions create your own opportunities, and therefore create your own "luck"....

- Dien