I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I have failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
- Unknown
I ran into a friend of mine a few weeks back. The last time we had talked, he was still finishing up his PhD program in Political Science. As he explained, since our last discussion, he had grown tired of academic life. He put his doctorate on hold and wanted to get some real work experience. The tricky part was finding a related job in his field. Teaching jobs were hard to come by and the current recession definitely didn’t make things easier.
With his bills piling up over the months, he did the one thing that he thought would bring in cash while giving him good leads for future teaching positions: he became a cleaner at a college where he planned to one day teach. It was an unusual job search method to the say the least. However, he was already making progress. He had apparently already met some big names in the college including the dean of the school, who was slightly confused when he found himself having an academic discussion with the same guy who empties his trash in the evening.
This encounter reminded me of what many entrepreneurs have to go through before seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Take Mark Cuban for example, the billionaire technology entrepreneur who is now the owner of an NBA franchise, the Dallas Mavericks. He left his first job after college not too long after he started (the boss did not appreciate his initiatives). He then shared a 3 bedroom house with 5 of his friends for a few years while working at a computer sales company. He was eventually fired for refusing to vacuum the place after a long shift. His first taste of real success came after he launched a computer company with a former client more than 7 years later.
There’s no question that our society tends to glamorize success. However, we often do it to the point where we completely forget (rather ignore) what the person had to go through before reaching his or her destination. And more than likely, they were successful not because they were necessarily the brightest star in the field. Rather, it was because they had a vision and were willing to endure everything along the way to realize it. They were able to constantly re-adapt to changing circumstances and re-shape their original idea until they found the magical formula that worked. Successful entrepreneurs are not flawless creatures by any means. But one thing that new entrepreneurs should learn from these people is that the beginning is never easy. One has to persevere and learn from the many setbacks along the way.
Perseverance is not something they teach in school. You can have the greatest business plan in the world, but once you actually start your business and the roof over your head depends on the monthly revenues, it’s a whole new ball game. So this post goes out to my friend, the PhD candidate who is carefully planning his next move while taking out the trash. It also goes out to the countless people out there brave enough to let go of the daily comforts in order to pursue their passion or an exciting new opportunity.
By the way, the quote at the beginning of the post was not exactly by an unknown. It’s by Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player in history. If someone like him never had the luxury of avoiding setbacks, neither should the rest of us.
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