Persist Until You Succeed

PERSIST UNTIL YOU SUCCEED!

By Ken Lord

Copyright 2012 Kenniston W. Lord, Jr.

Smashwords Edition

AUTHOR’S PROLOGUE

I’m retired now, and that gives me the luxury to reflect on four decades of being in small business, largely for myself. I am goal-oriented and more than that, success oriented. This book applies to more than business, however. It is universal—applicable to everyone who has ever tried to achieve a goal and has been tempted to give up. Each of us pursues a dream. Each of us is confronted daily with messages of failure and discouragement because things don’t go the way we think they should, and by people who are somewhat less than supportive of the way we seek to pursue our goals.

To begin this book, and by way of a preface, I should like to quote Og Mandino, author of The Greatest Salesman in the World: I will persist until I succeed.

"I was not delivered into this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with sheep. I will hear not those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious. Let them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny.

"I will persist until I succeed.

"The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginning; and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary in order to reach my goal. Failure I may still encounter at the thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next bend in the road. Never will I know how close it lies unless I turn the corner.

Always will I take another step. If this is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult…

I wrote this book to provide guidance to some who are so easily discouraged in attempting to find a way to energize and achieve a dream—one that they are trying to achieve in direct sales and network marketing. In this book I’ve raised more questions than I have offered answers. The purpose is to get you to look at yourself and to consider why you do what you do. In that contemplation, perhaps we can together arrive at a formula for your success.

Enjoy the book.

Ken Lord

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up, Thomas Edison.

To think a thing is impossible is to make it so. Courage is victory; timidity is defeat, Anonymous.

To be successful, you don't have to do extraordinary things. Just do ordinary things extraordinarily well, Jim Rohn.

I believe in mountains; they are a practical reminder of how high I must reach, Anonymous.

If I try, knowing there is little hope of succeeding, I risk failure. Not to try assures it, Anonymous.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed, Unknown.

Results! Why man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work, Thomas Alva Edison.

If one advances confidently in the direction of their dreams and endeavors to live the life they have imagined, they will meet with a success unexpected in common hours, Henry David Thoreau.

Chapter 1: All It Takes is a Little Courage

The following is a brief copyrighted article (by Max Stein) taken from the Internet site of a sales training company; we’ll use it as the basis of our discussion in this first chapter:

"If you can get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.

"Begin where you are, work where you are.

"The hour which you are now wasting, dreaming of some far off success, may be crowded with grand possibilities.

"The first essential of success is that you begin. Once you have started, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance.

"Do not wait. The time will never be ‘just right.’

"Start where you stand and work with whatever tools you have at your command. Better tools will be found as you go along.

"Eighty percent of success is showing up.

"If You Can Get Up The Courage To Begin, You Have The Courage To Succeed."

Going into any business is traumatic. It’s so traumatic that the majority of small businesses don’t make it as far as the third year. There are a number of reasons for this, including:

Finances: it literally takes money to make money. You need money to purchase inventory. In some locations you must purchase permits and authorities—and subject yourself to inspections to begin and then continue operation. Finances are always key ingredients in the success of a small business, and a home-based business is no exception. Just because the business is operated out of your home doesn’t mean that it does not consume resources—space, storage, communications, transportation, and supplies, to name the most obvious things.

Competition: often people who begin a small business fail to take their competition into account. Ken Lord, home-based business, is no competition to General Motors, of course, but may be heavily affected by other people selling my product, selling other competing products, independent sales representatives, and storefront retail sales activities.

Lack of knowledge: many direct sale businesses are extremely easy to get into. Most are available for the cost of a fast-food meal, generally covering the cost of initial supplies. But none can succeed without some training and product knowledge. Often the lack of knowledge can kill a new business, particularly if the businessperson has little interest to gain the knowledge. And like it or not, a hobby does not easily become a business.

Lack of resources: I find an astonishing number of people who feel they can begin a business with no investment in learning, literature, or supplies. Often, their initial progress is hampered by the lack of simple financial expertise. For example, they feel they can’t handle a checkbook, so they do not have a checking account. That makes paying for the product somewhat cumbersome. A means of transportation is necessary, in some cases, to pursue the business, yet I find people beginning business with inadequate or non-existent transportation.

Pipe dreams: often somebody begins a small business with a view to distribute over a wide area, get into mail order, take on customers all over the city, and in essence give every similar business a run for its money. The rational approach to building a strong small business is seldom taken, for a couple of obvious reasons: (1) this small businessperson is convinced she knows all there is to know about business, this product, this sales activity, etc.; and (2) she makes no attempt to learn about the necessary steps for building any business, this business in particular, or any of the things necessary to launch and sustain a successful business activity.

Unrealistic expectations: these are fueled daily with visions of instant and extreme wealth. When too much money has been spent for the purchase and attempt to execute somebody’s plan, it becomes painfully obvious that the author of the GET RICH IN REAL ESTATE book got his riches from selling the book. Successful people doing significant business have many things in common: it took them a substantial amount of time to get where they are; it took the risk of personal resources necessary to make it happen; it took working 70 hour weeks, to the denial of other easier interests; and it took significant effort to make it happen, including the willingness to listen to others, try different things, and learn from the experiences.

The Yiddish expression gonitch mit gonitch (nothing for nothing) is an important concept here.

So it follows that, if the business is to be successful, some personal investment of time and other resources is going to be absolutely necessary. But the first line of Max Stein’s brief article is very important. You had the courage to begin; by definition, you have the courage to succeed. Courage will get you started, and to some extent will sustain your future in your chosen business. Courage tends to get thin over time, particularly as you are beset by adversity. To that end, something other than courage must take over your life—and we’ll hold here that perseverance and specifically persistence are what will make your small business work over time.

Begin Where You Are, Work Where You Are

With the possible exception of Amazon, Google, or Facebook, few new businesses are begun with a view toward global coverage. And those that are, you can bet, are well financed with venture capital. No, most of us beginning a small business are faced with carving that business out in our own locale. Bloom where you’re planted, is another way to express the concept. The fact is that whatever business you decide to pursue, you will first take the warm list approach—finding customers amongst your family and friends—before you begin to move outward.

Most small businesses begin in a spare bedroom, a garage, a basement, or some other free space, where the newly minted entrepreneur will set up operation. If there is something to be built, it will be here that the prototype will be developed. If there are things to be stored, it will be here that the shelves will be assembled. If there are documents to be developed or records to be maintained, it will be here that the office will be established, the computer located, the copy machine, fax machine, telephone, and other office equipment will be located. A bench, a saw, a desk, a few chairs, and you’ve got a business. You put your demonstration kit together, gather up your forms, run a comb through your hair, put on a lipstick color (if you are female), and off you go to find customers.

It takes courage to call somebody on the phone and make an appointment. It takes courage to knock on somebody’s door. It takes courage to do a demonstration. It takes courage to ask for the order. You’ll be nervous, no doubt, but as you do it more, you will be nervous less. I guarantee it. But you’re not about to live on one coast and make a sales call across the continent, across the state, or perhaps even across the city. Your customer is the one you cast an early eye upon, the one with whom you wish to develop an ongoing relationship. The idea is to learn your trade, meet and serve your customers, and reap a profit within (or at most briefly outside of) your own sphere of influence—your street, your neighborhood, your church, your market, etc.

Growth always has a base. Build that cadre of customers closest to your base. Given enough time, you’ll outgrow that bedroom, basement, or garage. By that time you will have become so successful, you’ll have to go rent space somewhere—and by that time you’ll be able to afford to do so. Next will come a bookkeeper, sales assistance, warehousing assistance, transportation assistance, and your small business will have become something other than small.

In all fairness, it should be mentioned that there is a downside to building your customer base close to home. It is there that most of your potential discouragement will come. A brother will always be available to point out that you could make more money by doing something else. A sister will commiserate with