First blog post. Terrible title.
Thank listening to the How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying soundtrack on the way to a house showing in Sheboygan last night for that blunder. By the way, if you haven't listened to it, go do so after reading this. Daniel Radcliffe aka Harry Potter played the male lead in one of the revivals.
In my experience, no matter what career path you are travelling down right now, to succeed at it takes three key factors:
Effort, Perseverance, and Calculated Risk Taking.
How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying is a perfect embodiment of these three factors. For those of you not familiar with the story, J. Pierrepont Finch, a window washer, reads a book and gets inspired to work his way to the top of the corporate ladder at the World Wide Wicket Company in a romp that satirizes business culture, especially from the 60's when the show first hit Broadway.
Effort: It takes guts to walk into a big coporation for an interview when your resume details a history of window washing with little experience in the business realm, yet Finch does just that and finds himself with a job starting in the mailroom. From there, this guy pulls out all the stops to get on the CEO's good side, going as far as to make it look like he pulled an all-nighter working at the office and lying to him about attending the same college and also being a knitting enthusiast. This guy knows how to do his reasearch.
Perseverance: Even in your dream room, things are going to wrong and blow up in your face more often than not. This is the case for Finch, who really starts to see trouble when he becomes the VP of Advertising, which according to his book, means the hill is gonna get steeper for him. He comes up with a fun television campaign involves a scavenger hunt, which goes south when the prize locations get revealed on air and it leads to disaster and a near resignation from Finch. Well, fail forward, am I right?
Calculated Risk-Taking: The path to success in entrepreneurship and self-employment features a lot of decision making. How will I promote myself? What will help me expand my business? You won't get far without taking a little risk in life, but you need to know which risks are worth the chance. For Finch, he hears about how Mr. Twimble, the Head of the Mail Room, has spent his whole 25 year career in the mail room by not taking any chances so as to stay employed. When Twimble gets promoted and appoints Finch as his successor, he turns down the promotions and recommends a coworker, the decision leads to Finch almost immediately getting promoted to a junior executive position, continuing his rise to the top of the corporate ladder. Selflessness, even for the wrong reasons, pays off.
Who said the fine arts couldn't teach you about business? I too have seen these three principles in work in my life experiences. Now here's where my experiences tie into these three factors.
Effort: Getting your name out into the world means getting out into the world and talking with people. I've covered many showings for other real estate agents, which led to my first real comission when I became a showing partner for a couple buyers, which has been leading to more connections. As important as calling contacts is, I've always believed that it's best to connect in the community as well. Get out into the world and meet new people wherever you go.
Perseverance: When it comes to building your business, in real estate, consulting, retail, sports, etc. it takes a little time to get rolling. You can't expect to get rich quick, and when you find success, it's usually the result on lots of preparation and guidance. I went from wanting to be a high school teacher and coach, to wanting to work in college sports, to going more freelance with real estate, consulting, and maybe setting up my own business at some point. Change is inevitable, especially with our goals and dreams, and we have to push through those changes.
Calculated Risk Taking: To get a little extra cash on the side, I accepted a sales job. However, when I saw the hours, and heard from others that succeed, many side jobs would hurt my chances to get settled, I had to make the call to move on. It was tough, but I knew if I wanted to succeed, I had to make sacrifices. We all need to take risks, but we need to know which ones to take if we want to better ourselves.
No matter what your profession is, or your aspirations are, the ability to take caluclated risks, persevere through tough times and changes, and being able to go the extra mile, are the best ways to get ahead of the game and sustain a strong level of success.
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