Selling Sunshine: 75 Tips, Tools, and Tactics for Becoming a Wildly Successful Entrepreneur by null Tony Hartl

Author:null Tony Hartl
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group LLC
Published: 2010-12-31T14:00:00+00:00

MAINTAIN A TENACIOUS DESIRE TO SUCCEED

The history of the world is full of men who rose

to leadership by sheer force of self-confidence,

bravery, and tenacity.

—Mahatma Gandhi

Persistence and tenacity go hand in hand. I attribute much of my success to my sheer tenacity. As far back as I can remember, I was always driven to succeed. Call it traditional Midwestern values, but it’s just the way I was raised: You push yourself; you keep going; you finish what you start; and you do what you say you’re going to do.

You often hear top athletes described as tenacious, but it goes for business as well—especially when you’re trying to launch something that nobody else has ever attempted. When I want something, I go after it with a relentless determination.

One example of persistence paying off is how I was able to hire talent that others in my position might have thought was out of reach. Although I had a small company with just three locations in Dallas when I was first starting out, I immediately went after big-name, national talent for my team.

I recruited the top advertising and marketing executives, the best copywriters, nationally known graphic artists, and even world-renowned architects to design our new stores once we began building them. How did I manage to convince New York ad execs and famous designers to work for our small company? Simply by never taking no for an answer: with pure persistence and tenacity. If I wanted someone to work on my team, I went out and got them. Simple as that. You would be surprised at how many things you can get done just by picking up the phone and asking. The worst thing that can happen is for them to say “no,” but you first have to try.

This wasn’t just some kind of stubborn or ego-building wild goose chase, either; I realized that for Planet Tan to be successful, I would need to surround myself with the best and brightest people out there—people who shared my belief in persistence and a never-say-die effort. Through tenacity and salesmanship, I was able to make believers out of some big-name talent—so they joined us on our journey.

That same drive and determination helped us land major deals and strategic partnerships—first with the Dallas Stars, and later with the Mavericks and the Cowboys Cheerleaders. Being associated with great promotional partners like these sports teams helped put us on the map in a big way. As a result, Planet Tan looked like a major player—and became one! We were just a local company, but as I’ve said, we looked to everyone like a national brand. All of this came together because we maintained a tenacious desire to succeed and refused to give up just because we were “only” a local business.

I always saw the benefit of being tenacious; how, through unmitigated desire to achieve, someone could take a losing situation and create success. I recall that at one point we had a location that was declining in sales over time.

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