The job market is a disaster. If you are unemployed, underemployed or fearful you may get fired, you would be wise to consider starting or buying your own business. But if traditional business is not right for you, pursue some other avenue that might allow you to become highly successful. For example in 1925, a 23 year-old African-American poet had huge dreams but faced a highly segregated system that made it almost impossible for him to succeed. But one day while working as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC, he saw one of America's most famous poets, Vachel Lindsay having breakfast there.
This young man found the courage to approach Lindsay and set some of his poetry in front of him and quietly walked away. After reading those poems, Lindsay was so impressed by this young novice's writings, that he shared the poems during a reading that night, and when the young poet came to work the next day to start his shift, a throng of reporters greeted him and he was on his way. That young man, Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967) went on to become a famous poet and a novelist, playwright and columnist, so as this story illustrates, depending upon your skills, there are many ways to break out of a bad job market. As a former founder and CEO of a sizable company, I offer you 3 final tips to weigh carefully in whatever action you consider taking:
1) Are you energetic? Your energy level will not only determine how much you accomplish but it will effect how much those around you achieve for they will follow your lead. An energetic person, a "go getter" will inspire others to work at peak level while someone sleepwalking through life won't long have a business however great the business concept. Ross Perot built two outstanding companies by in part lighting a fire under everyone around him with his intensive energy.
2) Are you willing to learn? You will be confronted by many new experiences and you will make many mistakes. So as not to repeat those mistakes, you must learn and adjust as you go. No matter what, President Bush demanded the U.S. "stay the course" in Iraq. What a disaster. In business, if you "stay the course" rather than learning and making changes, you won't have a business.
3) Are you persistent? Business and every other aspect of life has its disappointments. The deals you thought you had that a competitor wins, employees who steal, new products that fail, banks that don't honor their commitments to you, etc. You must be resilient and persist through whatever adversity occurs. It is a frame of mind. And if you persist and adjust to what you learn, eventually you are likely to triumph and over time build an outstanding business or a successful creative career.
Dick
Note: Thank you to reader Ariel Feir for sharing the story of Langston Hughes in "Ariel & Sandi AbodeNews" (November, 2011)
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