RAW - Model Success - Take #2

The fastest way to accomplish any goal is to model success. Find someone who's already accomplished what you're trying to do and put their strategies to work for you. Success leaves clues, you just have to follow them. Otherwise you're going to go and spend countless hours and dollars in the wrong direction and it's just going to leave you frustrated and angry. When I was in university, I was one of the top students in my class and Merrill Lynch asked me to come and do a job interview for a position in Asia. And they wanted me to fly to New York. So they flew me out to New York and they put me up in the Waldorf Astoria. And I remember sitting in this room full of candidates and I was nervous. I didn't want to talk to anybody. I just wanted to get into my interview and start answering the questions. I was really nervous. The guy pulled me into the room and I sat down and he started asking me the usual questions. You know, tell me about yourself, what are your goals? And then he asked me a question that just stopped me cold. He asked me about what was happening in the Philippines and what impact it would have on the economy. And I had no idea. I don't even remember what I said. I stumbled on an answer, but now I was sweating. And I was embarrassed that I couldn't answer these questions. He asked me another one and another one and another one, and again, I had no idea what to say. I made something up, but it wasn't great. And I now was panicking and was scared that, you know, this wasn't going to happen for me. And so a few more questions later, he showed me the door and said, you know, thank you for your time. I'd come to New York with my girlfriend and she was waiting for me. And I came down the elevators and went out the front door of the Waldorf. And I remember seeing her face and she's got this big smile on her face, waiting to hear the good news that I would deliver. And I looked at her and all I could do was hang my head because there was no way that I got that job. And I didn't do well in the interview because I was so distracted by what I was doing back home. I just joined this company and we're trying to get it to go. It was a software business and whatever we did, it seemed like we couldn't make it work. We tried so many different things and for whatever reason, nothing was happening. We weren't getting momentum. We weren't getting customers and we thought We're smart people. We're, you know, we're trying to add value. We are working crazy number of hours to make this thing go, and it's just not working. And I went to New York because that was my backup plan. I always thought, you know, if I don't do well with this business, I can always go get a job. And so I was curious. I didn't know if I'd take the job or not, but I wanted to at least do the interview. Well, my backup plan disappeared. There was no backup plan. I had to come up with a new plan. I had to make my business work. And on the way back, something hit. I realized I'm not the first guy to try to sell software before. This can't be that hard. There's got to be something I'm missing here. And so I looked at companies like Microsoft and McAfee and Intuit and looked at how they got started. I don't care how Bill Gates makes an extra million dollars now, but how did he go from zero to one? How did he go from that idea to making his first million dollars? That was interesting for me. That's what I wanted to learn. And I realized I didn't have to be a creative genius. I didn't have to come up with everything myself. I just had to model success. So I researched those companies and started putting those ideas to work for our business. And it worked. And finally we had some momentum with our company. Finally we had some customers. Finally we had some traction, some energy going. And I just wish I'd figured this out a long time ago. I wouldn't have had to go through all that crazy struggle and frustration and anger that it takes to start a business. If we just started on the right foot and started modeling success from the beginning. Whatever challenge you're facing now, business or personal, somebody has already dealt with it and done it in a fantastic way that can work for you. Success leaves clues, and if you model success, you can easily achieve your goals. Good luck.