Max Dumais

Secrets to success: what you need to know about persistence and planning

Thinking tool: Persistency

One of the secrets to any success is maintaining the necessary persistency and focus. How often do we hear that an “overnight success” may have actually been 15 to 20 years in the making? More often than not it takes about this length time for the rest of the world to catch on to a truly innovative idea. Where would be today if the size of the debt of the Sydney Harbour bridge stymied the decision-makers of the time?

“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”

Another secret of success is hidden away in this powerful and challenging quote from Albert Einstein. It’s really all about lateral thinking: once you have the breakthrough in your thinking it usually turns out to be perfectly logical – but only in hindsight. The challenge is to throw up a lot of absurd ideas that may be just ahead of the game, but the real secret is to remain focused and to persist until the rest of the world gets it too.

Nick Tomkinson has always played with fast vehicles and even faster ideas. His dream to build the Redback Spyder (see them reach 254 kilometres an hour at www.carbontech.com.au) engaged the support of dozens of companies and now his car is breaking speed records and turning heads around the world.

What an absurd idea to build a one-off car yourself to your own specifications! What an even more astounding idea that you could engage so many others in your dream. Nick inspired and engaged enough of the manufacturers he needed to make his dream a reality.

The vision, the culture and the drivers of your business can be honed over time and sharpened through the experience and insights you have gained along the way. But throughout all of this there needs to be touchstones or a key thread that you can use to keep your business idea on track. Most of that should be incorporated within your initial business plan and regularly reflected in every twist or turn along your path.

Tip for the week: Start the way you intend to continue. Planning and being proactive is a key to any business success. If you start your business simply reacting to events or opportunities it is likely that this will set a pattern into the future. Take the time to think your way ahead and imagine where you would want your business to be in five or 10 years’ time and then work your way backwards.

Even if you are a lone operator to start, you should already have a one-page version of what your organisational chart would look like if it grew to be 10 to 20 strong. It is amazing how powerful it is to write it down. If you write what you think, it tends to happen!

Comments

Murray Jones writes: No doubt about it – persistence beats resistance!
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