Evan Carmichael tells how Ross Perot quit IBM after his software idea was rejected, borrowed $1,000 from his wife, and founded Electronic Data Systems. Perot had been IBM's top salesman but felt stifled. He grew EDS to $1 million in sales within years and became a billionaire by taking control of his own ideas instead of waiting for permission.
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Welcome to the Famous Friday. I believe that whatever goal you have, whatever challenges in front of you, somebody has already solved it. You don't have to come up with every new idea yourself, and the fastest way to achieve that goal is to find someone who's done it, model the success, and apply it to your business. So today's lesson is Take Control, and it's by the billionaire entrepreneur Ross Perot. Now growing up, Ross Perot seemed to have a natural knack for selling. He started off in his life selling Christmas cards and magazines and garden seeds door-to-door as a way to make some extra money for himself. When he was 12 years old, he wanted to be a paperboy. He wanted to be a newspaper delivery guy, and there was no route for his area because he lived in Texarkana, Texas, which was super dangerous at the time, and so dangerous that the newspaper didn't have a route there. So he went to go talk to the owner. He's 12 years old. He goes, talks to the owner, and he says, "I'd like to open up a route in Texarkana, Texas for you." and he negotiated a higher than normal commission because it was so dangerous in that area. And the owner's like, "Ah, this kid, he's never gonna make it." Pirro decided to go and do it. He got a horse so he can deliver the newspapers by horseback so he could avoid any would-be muggers who wanted to steal whatever money they had from him. That's taking control. Later in life, Ross Pirro, he gets a job at IBM, Big Blue. He's working as a salesman. He's hitting all his sales quotas. He's a superstar salesman. Top of his class in all the salespeople at IBM. One year he met his annual sales target by January 19th. So he's on the rise and he goes and he talks to his bosses at IBM and says, IBM is a great hardware company, we make great computers, we should get into the software business too. There's great opportunities to sell software. And his bosses look at him and say, nah, we're not interested, we're not gonna do that. And so Ross Perot leaves dejected. He feels like his ideas have been stomped on, they're not listening to him, and he's sad, depressed, and you know the feeling when you've told your boss about an idea and he or she stomped all over it and said, "We're not gonna go this way." So one day he's sitting getting his haircut, he's feeling a little sad, and he picks up Reader's Digest, and he opens it up and he sees a quote from Henry Thoreau's Walden that said, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." That quote meant something to him. It struck him right in the heart because he didn't want to be like most men. He didn't want to give up control of his destiny. He didn't want to be giving ideas to his bosses to have them say no and say, "We're going to put you in this box, Ross Perot. This is all you're allowed to do." So he decided that day, he left his job, he borrowed $1,000 from his wife, and he started his own software company. It was called EDS, and he used his sales skills to go out and start getting clients. And within a couple years he had $1 million in sales. And then couple years later, continued beyond, he became a billionaire and became a well-known entrepreneur because he took control of his life. How many times have you been faced in a situation where you have this great idea and you pitch somebody and they say no, and that holds you back? Imagine if he stayed at IBM, he would have had a career, a lifetime that would have paid him well as a sales guy, but people stomped on his ideas, put him in a box and saying, "This is all you're allowed to do. You can't do anymore." He could have been a top salesman and instead he chose to take control of his destiny, become an entrepreneur and become a billionaire. So if you've got a great idea, if you're tired of people telling you what to do, if you're tired of being put in a box, take control. Just like Ross Perot did, and it might make you a billionaire too. Belief. For those of you watching, like the video. You can see more by clicking the subscribe button. Thank you so much. I'll see you soon.
Hi, Raquel English here with Mermaid Junkie TV. Are you on Evan Carmichael's newsletter subscription? If not, you should be. I read every single one, and you should too.
