Day 27: It's a fine line

This last lesson is basic and straight forward, and, to me, an extremely important aspect of being successful. My personal experience, along with that gleaned from interviewing over 500 entrepreneurs is that the difference between success and failure is a very fine line. For many, this can be totally disconcerting, while for others the alternative is boring…. And, just to be clear, this fine line is easy to transverse either way – from failure to success and vice versa.

Since the beginning of the BusinessMakers, we’ve made it a standard to conclude interviews with the question, what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs. And, it is amazing the numbers that have said “you need a major amount of perseverance and determination, you’ve got to be totally committed to succeed.”

I know of many successful businesses that at some time in their history, they were on the verge of shutting down, of throwing in the towel and quitting. Yet simply through a very strong will to succeed, though determination and a willingness to continue on, crossed that fine line to success.
So, I leave you with my favorites of many famous quotes on this subject. From Calvin Coolidge, thirty third President of the United States –

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, ‘press on’ has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race.”

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