The other day, I received an email from a young man who has built six unique items in four distinct sectors and sold a total of 37 copies. Not 37 of each, but 37 copies altogether Not a single unit of one of his items was sold.
Should he give up?
The majority of people would argue that he is plainly in the wrong field of business and should do something different. I contend that is false, and I will explain why:
Whoever has the tenacity to continue generating items despite a lack of sales will ultimately achieve success. Clearly, he has no fear of failure; if he did, he would have quit after the first product. And he possesses the desire and determination to persevere even when everyone around him advises him to stop. Even his sales are asking him to stop, yet when he emailed me he told me he was working on his seventh product, and judging by the sound of it, I believe he has a winner this time.
Eddie, a second individual, aspired to become a jockey with all his might. At the age of 15, he travelled to Kentucky and worked for $15 a week galloping horses. Eddie masked his tears, bid his boss farewell, and left for California after his supervisor informed him that he would never be a jockey.
There, he got employment with horse trainer Clarence Davison, who allowed Eddie to compete. Result?
Eddie lost. His next race was also a defeat. And his next.
In fact, Eddie continued to race and lose for eight consecutive months, and after each race, Clarence sat down with Eddie to discuss his errors. Eddie persisted until two hundred and fifty defeats later, when he gave up. Therefore, Eddie stopped losing. Eddie’s first victory came a month before his sixteenth birthday.
He steadily progressed under Clarence’s tutelage, but two years later he fractured his head, fractured two ribs, and punctured his lung after falling off a horse in Chicago. Isn’t it time to leave?
Not Eddie. He won the Kentucky Derby for the first time four years later. Then, ten years after being warned that he would never be good enough to be a jockey, he won the U.S. Triple Crown. He was the only rider to win the U.S. Triple Crown more than once. During his career, he rode in 24,092 races, won 4,779 victories, and placed in the top three 11,888 times. Not bad for a person who is “not good enough”
His colleagues referred to Eddie Arcaco as “Master.” What’s the big deal?
However, he could have quit at any time during his first 250 defeats and we would have never heard of him.
You must keep in mind that around 70% of the horses in the race are not competing to win. Horses are like people.
Everybody lacks the aggressiveness and drive to go all out in order to achieve success. — Eddie Arcaca
Do you possess the drive and tenacity necessary for success? I believe so.