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Steady Persistence: The Key To Making An Idea Reality

You all know of the famous expression that goes, “Rome wasn’t built in one day.” And you are tired of hearing it—you just want things to happen already. You want to make the big bucks and be successful. What’s the hold up for?

That’s how I used to feel until I started carefully observing and analyzing people whose business ideas made history or are on the way to making history.

Take Rachael Ray. Many people may have learned about her after Oprah discovered her. It looks like fame happened for her overnight. Bam! Well, she wasn’t just sitting home when Oprah discovered her. Before Oprah, she had four shows on FoodTV. Before FoodTV, she was hosting a cooking show on local TV. Before that, she was making 30-minute meals at a local supermarket. Before that she was working at a Macy’s candy counter.

Rachael did not start off on national TV shows, magazines, her own line of cookware and other products. She started with thirty-minute meals—that was her focus. Once that was successful, she moved on to the next task, eventually building an empire. This observation taught me to focus and start small and slow, and just make sure that I always keep going.

My brother-in-law Mo, while a senior in high school, took an investment class and was hooked. He told his mom how he’d been playing with fake money and doing well. After his mom praised him, he asked her for real money. Her response was a quick “NO!” My mother-in-law is the most conservative person. She will only put her money on a CD because it guarantees returns. Fortunately, Mo refused to give up. He carefully analyzed his mom. He knows that she trusts his brother. So he turned to his older brother, and they both convinced their mom, under the condition that the brother would supervise Mo’s investment of her $1,000.

After couple of months and positive results, Mo asked for more money and got it. His mother is now talking about him with pride to her friends and family. The word is spreading and now extended family and friends ask for advice. Eventually, we all hope, Mo will fulfill his dream of becoming a landlord and an entrepreneur, and perhaps also a philanthropist. And it all will have started with careful analysis and persuasion.

So if you have an idea you’d like to pursue, take it slow, focus, and just make sure you keep at it. That’s what I would like to believe will work for me.

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