There’s much you need to know to make your dreams come true, but as an entrepreneur one of the most important, and perhaps difficult, is this: Focus.Learning, or rather training yourself, to focus on one project, one goal, one dream at a time is key to your ultimate success.
Everybody knows the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare, and what happened to the rabbit when he stopped to rest on his cotton-tailed laurels. Well, I should have listened to Aesop.Like that rabbit, my cat-box filler business was racing full throttle in the 1960s.
nce after I spoke at a college commencement ceremony, a young graduate approached me with a question. “Mr. Lowe,” she asked, “since you’ve become a successful entrepreneur, I’d like to ask your advice about a venture I have in mind.” Of course, I lent her an ear.”I’d like to set up a dry-cleaning business,” she explained. “In Paris.”
My friend Kenny Rogers sang one of the most famous pieces of advice in country music: “You gotta know when to hold ‘em; know when to fold ‘em.” Gambling aside, these words could easily fit an entrepreneur when it’s time to cut a deal.In the cat-box-filler industry, clay-rich lands feed our manufacturing furnaces. Cut off the raw-material supply, and our business would shut down almost overnight. Such an occasion forced me to make one of the costliest deals of my life.
This rule came from my Grandpa Huber. Actually, it was part of a trio of warnings he gave me, including, “Never eat at a restaurant named ‘Mom’s,’ ” and “Never play cards with a guy named Ace.” These last two rules are easy to understand, but I never fully comprehended the first one until I bought Jones. Jones is a…
Entrepreneurs are usually seen as “big idea” people. But as they used to say in the Michigan towns where I grew up, a great idea and a dime will get you a ride on the streetcar.Dimes Into Dollars The “Eureka moment” — when you get that inspiration that will somehow change life as we know it — is a prerequisite
My Grandpa Huber used to tell a story about an entrepreneurial miner. After a few years of futile picking at his claim, he came up with a “big idea.”