Go The Distance to Grab Success

Want success? You gotta go the distance. Sometimes that means doggedly sticking with your idea long after everyone else has thrown in the towel.

It almost invariably takes longer to get a business profiting -- or profiting again -- than anybody thought it would. Back in 1996 when I started consulting on the infant Internet, I had to plug away writing articles for AOL and Prodigy for nearly one year before I got my first customer. The next year I took in an underwhelming $11,000 in sales.

Of course the Net was just getting started and it didn't take a rocket scientist to understand things would get better, far better. And they did. Within a couple of years I was earning six figures online, had an office in a downtown high-rise, and claimed some of the best writers in America on my in-house staff.

The old rule of business is you will do almost no business your first year, more business your second year, and too much business your third year.

The same goes for bringing a business back after a debilitating recession, which was probably a depression for small business. Those who refused to give up are now taking stock, ramping up, getting creative, and going forward with hopes the new economy will offer exciting opportunities.

Run your ad after your friends are tired of it. Run your ad after your spouse has advised you to stop. Run your ad even after you are tired of it. Only then will it start to get results. An ad that runs for years builds results. You won't hear that bit of wisdom in the "measure it" age we live in. But it's a strategy you can take to the bank.

Pick your niche and work it, year after year. Change with the times, but stay in the game. People will get to know you as a reliable solution provider. Word of mouth will send all the customers you can handle. It's not unusual for an established business to get 80% of their new customers from WOM and return customers.

An unlikely example, quite possibly, is the man who lives in his rusty truck parked outside Walmart. He is there day after day, month after month. After about a year people became curious and started conversations with him. Soon after some became benefactors and the rusty truck got a new barbecue grill and nice bicycle.

Sometimes you have to go the distance to reach success.

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