7/19 Blog: Still Trying to Embrace Failure

We’ve all heard the stories of people succeeding after repeated failures, yet it’s hard to take chances hearing “no” time and again. Some recent “success after failure” stories I found include hearing of RH Macy failing 7 times before his NY store caught on, Abraham Lincoln failed in his first attempt at his first time in getting elected to six different elected offices. Einstein didn’t speak until he was 4 and couldn’t read until he was 7. Pasteur ranked 15^th of 22 students in chemistry as an undergraduate student. Charles Schultz had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff, and Disney wouldn’t hire him. Lance Armstrong finished last in his first bicycle race. Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because he “had no imagination” and went bankrupt many times—then the city of Anaheim stalled the contruction of Disneyland, saying it would only attract riffraff. Barry Manilow sang a song about his lesson from failures, “God Bless the Other 99”. He talks about failing to get a part 99 times out of 100, but learning so much more from those 99 failures than from that 1 “yes”. The first time Jerry Seinfeld walked on stage, he froze, then stumbled through a minute and a half of material, and was booed off the stage. He came back the next night and got a standing ovation. Elvis Presley was fired by the manager of the Grand Ol Opry after his first performance. Twelve publishers rejected Harry Potter before it was picked up. Dr. Suess’ first book was rejected by 27 publishers before it was first published.

 

So why is the word ‘no’ so powerful? Why do we accept it so quickly?

 

The word ‘no’ is only as powerful as the power we give it. Don’t give it power. Guys know all about rejection because we usually are the ones asking women out. One ‘no’ doesn’t keep you from trying—it just means ‘no’ to that woman. Time to find someone who appreciates you! Women learn the power of ‘no’ when, increasingly, they ask a guy if he’s free, or if he’d like to go with you to do something you really want to do. When looking for a job or promotion, ‘no’ is heard most frequently (if there’s a response at all). In business, we hear it from customers—and one ‘no’ doesn’t mean we’re out of business, it just means that we haven’t tried hard enough to convince that customer or we haven’t talked to the right customer who appreciates what we have to offer (be it a product or service).

 

‘No’ has no power until we give it power. Don’t empower that word.

 

It's Time to Make a Change...Now

It's Time to Make a Change...Now

 

I hear of unemployment, and have seen several instances of underemployment. I see underemployment as the real long-term threat, because Americans that are taking low-paying jobs to replace higher-paying jobs they aspire to (or maybe formerly held) restrict the access of those with fewer skills (often younger and less-educated, thus with fewer options) to get basic jobs, earn paychecks, and thus learn the skills that both a job and income will teach. Who’s to blame for the underemployment? My answer: everyone.

 

We, as a society, used to mow lawns & send our kids to mow neighbors lawns, shovel sidewalks, etc. Now, even though Americans work more than other industrialized countries, we worry about skin cancer (so we avoid going outdoors certain days) and finding good childcare (someone who’s not busy texting and spends time paying attention to the children). Our kids have cable or satellite tv in their rooms, often hooked up to a video game system and/or PC with internet…so why do anything?

 

Adults worry more so much about maintaining their income that college is often done by convenience—at night/weekends, by schools that charge much more than public schools. Student loan debt balloons.

 

It’s time to make a change. Now.

 

Take time during time in your day. A minute here, a minute there, while you’re driving or have a break from anything. Write down something you think you could do for someone else. Then find a way to charge money for it. (This is actually easier than it sounds.) Make someone else’s life easier, find a way to get paid for it, and do so with several ideas. The best idea will succeed and maybe it’ll lead to a second income—or some savings, if nothing else. Do it now. Skip a TV show or Facebook posting. Just do it.

 

Onward.

What Would Your Customers Say About You?

This past weekend, I received two very different levels of service from two different pizza places. The amount spent was about the same (about $30 in each case). In the first case, the pizza was ordered on a Friday evening, a pickup time was promised and verified when I got to pickup the pizza (I was a bit early)…and the time came and went. The service promise, as I saw it, was broken. It ended up taking 45 minutes for 3 pizzas from a national chain. (It was promised in 25 minutes.)  In the second case, it was a Saturday evening just after a large concert let out nearby, so I ordered from a different pizza chain (I was in a different city)—fearing the worst. The pizza was promised to be delivered in 30 minutes. In 25 minutes, the phone rang—the pizza was ready for us to pickup in the lobby of the hotel we were at. In both cases, pizzas were hot and fresh, but the experience was very different.

 

At work, I was tasked to call our customers to see what they think of the product we’re selling and the service from our company. While most were positive, some weren’t, and I listened and wrote down both positive and negative feedback. I was able to react to the negative feedback and, as a result, some business was generated from my efforts to change the way we do business. These external customers gave me terrific feedback, and I’m thankful.

 

The most-overlooked customers are internal customers. Internal customers can be our coworkers, our families, people on the same sports team, etc—anyone who depends on us. How often have we each come home and taken out our work day on those at home, or placed our needs in front of others at home? While the short-term results are easy to see, long-term results may be a loss of teamwork at work, decreased affection from your spouse/kids, and similar detriments in other areas. Many people won’t tell us what minor things we’ve done wrong—they’ll just avoid asking for a favor in the future. Over time, the “snowball effect” takes place.

 

The moral of today’s blog: beware not only of what you say and do, but what impression you give others. All pizzas are not created equal.

Onward.

Obamacare: Now What?

So the SCOTUS weighed in and declared "Obamacare" a tax and, therefore, constitutional. Rumblings from Republicans tell me the end of the world is near (thus the Mayan calendar must be correct) because this extraordinary tax increase will stifle the economy forever (yes, I'm exaggerating). Democrats see this decision as a verification of Obama's first term as its long-term effects include guaranteed universal health care at an affordable price, thus leading to a healthier,longer-living America with lower healthcare costs.

In all likelihood, this piece of legislature will be somewhat stripped, due to what economists refer to as the "law of unintended consequences". Healthy people will opt-out of insurance, paying the fine instead because it's cheaper. Only higher-risk people will be left to pay, thus driving up costs for them, and insurance profits will decline.  Pharmaceutical companies are guaranteed winners--many people need drugs to live a normal daily life, for one reason or another. (The author included.)  Insurance companies will experience 'hills and valleys' in profits as people come and go--nothing should be assumed.Hospitals should never worry, as people will live longer through drugs and better nutrition, and the insured will still need hospitals.

Long-term, look for the individual mandate and the taxes associated to be repealed or unenforced. Some other features (including allowing kids to stay on parents coverage until they're 26) will stay--people who vote are often parents who'll benefit from this. We'll see on the rest; stay tuned.