Hey there — Trevor Mauch here again with a couple stories to share and some valuable lessons.
So, I was talking with other local entrepreneurs at our Young Entrepreneur Society event — a local entrepreneur networking group I started — and the conversation veered in the direction that conversations tend to go about entrepreneurship, success, abundance, wealth, etc.
One of the members asked the group what we thought the main difference is between people who succeed and kick ass doing something… and the hordes of people who “try” the same thing and fail miserably.
Answers were thrown around, all of them 100% valid and true — think: focus, resources — but one entrepreneur hit the nail on the head (more on that here in a bit).
But before I tell you the #1 difference between people who succeed and those who fail… I want to dive into a couple stories.
Story #1: How 2 Failed Companies Led to 1 of the Most Recognizable Brands in History
Of course you know who Henry Ford was.
What most people don’t know is his history, and how he built what eventually became the Ford Motor Company. Ford was born in 1863 and later became an engineer by trade. At 30, he was just a run-of-the-mill chief engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company.
In his spare time, he tinkered with things and built a gasoline-powered engine.
But, what happens next isn’t what you think…
At 36, Ford resigned from the Edison Illuminating Company and started his first auto company: Detroit Automobile Company. That company dissolved (read: failed) less than 2 years later because they weren’t able to make a quality car at a price that they could make a profit on.
Ford wasn’t alone…
In a quick online search, I found a list of failed American auto companies that has over 131 failed automakers… and that’s just the companies that start with the letter “A.” For real.
The full list of bankrupt, out-of-business American automakers is over 1,000 strong, with most of them from between 1890–1920.
So, instead of going back to his engineering J.O.B., just 10 months later, Henry started another company called the Henry Ford Company, backed and run by the team of shareholders who helped him with his first failed company.
Within months, the management team made a move Ford didn’t like, and Ford left that company that was named after him — which then changed its name to the Cadillac Motor Company after Ford left — to start a 3rd company with a partner called Ford & Malcomson, Ltd, which later became the Ford Motor Company in 1903…
When Ford was 40 years old… almost 10 years after he ventured out to start his own automobile company.
We all know what happened next as Ford invented the assembly line system that all automakers use today, and Ford became one of the most well-known brands in the world.
BUT!
None of this would have happened if Ford hadn’t done 1 thing.
I’ll tell you what that one thing is in a bit.
Story #2: The Oldest Rookie
In 1983, a young left-handed pitcher named Jim Morris was selected 4th overall in the amateur baseball draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. Over a period of 4 years, Jim suffered arm injury after arm injury… and never made it even close to his childhood dream of pitching in the “big leagues.”
By 1989, after being released from 2 different teams, he retired and became a high school teacher and baseball coach at a small Texas school.
Now, this is where the story gets cool…
While coaching his high school baseball team in 1999 — 10 years after he was flushed out of the minor leagues — Jim made his team a promise: “Win the district championship, and I’ll try out for Major League Baseball again.”
Jim never thought his team would win. In fact, that high school had never won a district championship in its history.
Well, his team did the “impossible” and won the title that year — and Jim was forced to hold up his end of the bargain.
At an open tryout for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, anyone could show up and try out for a shot at getting picked up. As he walked on the field at 35 years old (ancient in baseball, especially for a rookie), he just did what he knew how to do… he threw the ball.
But what no one was expecting was that he threw 12 consecutive pitches that were clocked at 98 miles per hour — that’s super, crazy-FAST… in the top 2% of all major league pitchers — and he was 35.
So, Jim was signed to a professional contract, and in September of that year he worked his way up to the Major Leagues… striking out the first batter he faced in the “bigs” on 4 straight pitches.
Arm troubles cropped back up for Jim, which forced him into retirement again in 2000…
But 10 years after his initial failure… after everyone told him his career was over and he’d never live his dream of pitching in the big leagues.
Jim Morris reached that goal. (You might recognize this story, Disney made a movie about it in 2002.)
The #1 thing separating successful people from the average mediocre person who tries but fails…
So, the major thing that I can personally attest to as the main difference between people succeeding or failing at anything in life is:
Persistence and the ability to stick with something until you succeed.
Everyone fails.
EVERYONE.
But for guys like Henry Ford and Jim Morris… they didn’t stop at that first failure. Nope, they went out and claimed the life they wanted to live.
And for me, I struggled for 18 months, living off my credit cards… until I was finally able to create a business that generated enough profit for me to live and thrive off of. (High 6 figures to low 7 figures a year).
But, I have good friends who’ve said they want to quit their J.O.B. … I mentored them step-by-step… and the minute they didn’t get immediate results, they quit… even when I could basically guarantee their success if they simply stuck with it long enough.
So, where are you right now?
- Are you on the verge of quitting on your dreams because you think it’s “never gonna happen” or didn’t happen fast enough?
- Are people telling you that you need to focus on your day job, work there for 30 years and get a good retirement?
I say screw that.
Pick a path… and stick with it until you make it happen. And always be 100% mentally positive that you’ll get there.
Here’s to your success.