Overview 
Henry Ford’s businesses failed and left him flat broke five times before he founded Ford Motor Company, R.H. Macy started seven businesses and failed at each one before he found the right combination, Soichiro Honda was turned down as an engineer at Toyota, was jobless for quite a while then created a scooter company that went broke before he finally created Honda Motor Company, Harland Sanders and his famous Colonial Sanders Chicken recipe was rejected by over 1,009 restaurants and hundreds of bankers before he finally turned the corner and made his recipe for business cook. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor and started quite a few businesses that ended in bankruptcy before he created his world famous amusement parks. Yes, even Bill Gates has gone broke. Bill’s first company was called Traf-O-Data. Many now mega-successful business people have stumbled and hit the ground a few times before they figured out how to run effective and profitable organizations. Here are three traits of the successful business person who is faced with uncertain economic challenges.
The Step-by-Step Process
The first is persistence. From day one a human being must learn to be persistent to walk, ride a bike, read, do algebra and run a successful business and people usually don’t succeed the first time at any of these. I have close friends and colleagues who are struggling right now in these uncertain economic times and although some of them are getting a pretty severe beating, they know and I know that they will once again create and lead successful businesses. As my earlier examples illustrate, successful business people can be flat broke but the persistent ones all have a strong sense of self. In other words, they can take a punch and keep moving toward their objective. They have an unwavering trust in themselves, even if, at times, they cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel, they know it is there and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Persistence alone will not do it, however, you need a little something extra.
That something extra is knowing how to “Think.” Successful business people have learned to slow down or even stop what they are doing and “think.” The term “Think” was made famous by Tom Watson, the founder of IBM, who had plaques made for every executive’s desk. He knew the answers to IBM’s success lay in the minds of his people, he just needed to teach them to stop every so often and “think.” Successful business people see the world as a place where opportunities exist—and they zero in on these and then take action. Yes, even in today’s tough economic climate there are as many opportunities as ever. Successful business people slow down, think, prioritize and implement.
The last ingredient on this short list is that successful business people are “value added.” In essence, they have learned to add something of value to the conversation, to make the product better, to improve the customer’s situation, and to be more thoughtful to employees.
Self-Review for Success
Now look in the mirror and ask yourself, what will be my contribution to the world? How will you improve yourself and those around you? As human beings, we are better off in all areas of our lives when we are working to improve our situation or that of another.
Remember that many successful business people have experienced similar thoughts and feelings as you, as they overcame the challenges that were set before them. Stand up, dust yourself off, look for opportunity and take the next step.
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