Why We Will Find A Way
Because no obstacle is too big with persistence and the willingness to commit everything you have.
This week reports have been released showing the performance of the new offices around the country and my office has fallen drastically short of where we want to be. I think for most people they might look at what we have done in Philadelphia and say that I should be proud of how far we have come, that few others could have done better, that we are on the right track, and that we are doing the right things.
Thank you for the congratulations, but the greatest congratulations will come in the form of measurable success. We are not the number one office, we are not the number one new office, and we aren't even beating the offices whose managers expected to get beaten by our office. What we have done so far is just the very beginning.
What we have done so far is a failure, but it is the best kind of failure. It is the kind of failure that you work endlessly and tirelessly to have. It is the kind of failure that puts your back up against a wall and makes you create great new ideas that otherwise would never be thought of. It is the kind of failure that shows you where things need to be changed and enlightens you about the way your world works. It's the kind of failure that separates your friends from your adversaries and draws you closer to the people that really believe in you and your vision. There is really only one better feeling than knowing you have given you all and failed and that better feeling is knowing you have given you all and succeeded. We are at a precipice and there is know doubt in my mind about whether we are about to fall off of that cliff or climb up it. We will climb.
Why? That's a question I ask myself everyday. Why are we still fighting? The answer is, because that is what we do. Steve Touré is a new member of my team who just officially hit his first promotion, which we give new team members at $1000 in career sales. In Steve's first ten demos he sold one trimmer (if you aren't in the knife slinging business that equates to $56 in sales after three days of training, coming in at 7am everyday, and going out using the bus to get to 10 different in person appointments). $56 equates to $5.60 earned for the sales representative. Now don't get me wrong, we pay our sales folks when they don't sell as well, but it doesn't feel good to get paid for not succeeding. I asked Steve why he kept going...
Steve said, "At my school they taught us to be warriors and warriors don't quit. They just keep fighting and going forward." Steve Touré is the Valedictorian of the 2014 graduating class of the Boys Latin Philadelphia Charter School.
I don't think Steve's goal is to be the best in the nation, although he is just as capable as anyone I have ever met in our company. I don't think mentally he is there quite yet. I don't think he wants to be the best and accomplish the impossible or do things with our company that nobody has ever done before, but the principle of persistence is the same no matter what your goal is. We will find a way because we can, because we won't allow others to dictate what can and can't be accomplished, because we choose to find a way to succeed and to live passionately no matter what has happened and no matter what happens in the future, and because finding a way is what we do. Persistence means one thing. You don't stop.
You don't stop.
