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5 Hard Truths From Real Life Success Stories

Wesley July 23, 2017

4. The Entrepreneurs Who Have The Very Best, Most Disruptive, Most Valuable Ideas Will Face The Most Resistance From The Status Quo

“The idea of gas engines was by no means new, but this was the first time that a really serious effort had been made to put them on the market. They were received with interest rather than enthusiasm and I do not recall any one who thought that the internal combustion engine could ever have more than a limited use. All the wise people demonstrated conclusively that the engine could not compete with steam. They never thought that it might carve out a career for itself. That is the way with wise people–they are so wise and practical that they always know to a dot just why something cannot be done; they always know the limitations. That is why I never employ an expert in full bloom. If ever I wanted to kill opposition by unfair means I would endow the opposition with experts. They would have so much good advice that I could be sure they would do little work.” -Henry Ford

Those very few bright souls with a one in a million, world-changing idea who have the moxy to tell the world to follow them, who take meaningful, important steps to acquire customers and ship their service or product, will face the very most resistance from a world that doesn’t want to change. People resist their own good ideas, and they will resist yours too. We live in the safest world that any members of our species have ever had the privilege of enjoying. You have more power and access to more powerful resources than the last King of France had just a few generations ago. Yet most people are still resistant to manifesting the better parts of our more angelic natures. And the real kicker is not only will you face resistance from people ducking their heads in the sand as you try to change the world, but you will face resistance from the already successful “experts” out there who think they’ve got the world figured out already and don’t need your change to come along and mess it all up for them.

5. Those Few Who Get Started, Who Move Forward Relentlessly, Who Acquire Customers Aggressively, Who Have a Vision That Can Really Create a Lot of Value and Change The World, Will Have to Sacrifice Themselves If They Want to Succeed

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard. You put so much of your life into this thing. There are such rough moments in time that I think most people give up. I don’t blame them. Its really tough and it consumes your life. If you’ve got a family and you’re in the early days of a company, I can’t imagine how one could do it. I’m sure its been done but its rough. Its pretty much an eighteen hour day job, seven days a week for awhile. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you’re not going to survive. You’re going to give it up. So you’ve got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you’re passionate about otherwise you’re not going to have the perseverance to stick it through. I think that’s half the battle right there.” -Steve Jobs

The even fewer men and women of mind and ability, of burning desire and unshakeable conviction, of fearlessness and persistence, those few like Henry Ford and Steve Jobs who make it through the nearly impossible gauntlet of obstacles and change the world forever, must sacrifice everything to do so. If you are starting from nothing and pursuing a self made fortune, you will have to give even greater value to the world than the fortune the world will give back to you in payment for it. You will have to burn yourself up to make your dreams a reality. You will have to allow what you care about most to consume you. It is a high price.

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