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Thursday, Oct. 31
The Indiana Daily Student

Rules of survival

The last two weeks have been tough. Very tough. My worst nightmare came true when I got a call from our largest partner. After receiving pressure from top competitors, he had decided to drop my ticket brokering company. The majority of my business was gone; I had experienced a colossal failure.\nMany successful entrepreneurs tell you, in retrospect, never to give up. It seems easier to say this looking back, but is very difficult to deal with in the present. Today, keeping my experience in mind, I will give you a condensed guide on how to rebound and how to do it quickly.\nYou see, I am an expert in two things: failing and rebounding. I have run 12 businesses into the ground, and I have rebounded 12 times, each time with a larger business. When I have failed, I have always failed “up” and never “down.”\nThe first thing to realize is that failing hurts. It hurts a lot and that is fine. More than any physical pain, more than heartbreak, more than losing a close friend. It hurts more because it is very personal. The good thing is that it hurts for Donald Trump and Mark Cuban to the same degree as it hurts for you and me. Our pains and experiences are not unique, and it is for that reason that we shall overcome them.\nFailure feels as if the entire world is pointing a finger at you and telling you that you that you will never succeed. Blair Singer, author of “SalesDogs,” points out that individuals irrationally universalize many negative experiences. If you are late to a meeting, your mind automatically says “I’m always late.” At the same time, many people attribute success to being “lucky” rather than to their own hardworking effort.\nThe way to deal with this is to isolate the situation as much as possible. A more accurate and rational way to deal with these situations is to realize that you were late that one time. The individual that is able to embrace this mindset is the one that will be successful in all aspects of life.\nInterestingly enough, successful running backs in the NFL and successful entrepreneurs have one very important thing in common: They always keep their legs moving. Four hours after losing everything that I had worked for years to create, I was back to the drawing board. Within another hour I was calling partners and employees to rally everyone behind the company’s new direction. There is very little time to sulk or feel sorry for yourself. The time right after a collapse is the time to embrace change and take action. Keep momentum because it is on your side. Do not let your mind stop and consider how much you have lost, or you will become discouraged and depressed.\nThe pressures of entrepreneurship are oftentimes overwhelming and paralyzing. You may constantly feel as if you have reached the end of the plank. \nIn Napoleon Hill’s classic “Think and Grow Rich,” Hill interviewed 500 of the most successful people alive at the beginning of the 20th century. What he found was a very small difference. He found that a large majority of the individuals’ greatest successes came shortly after their greatest failures. I attribute all my early success in my business’s foundation, as well as the recent turnaround, to this life-changing book. \nAs for myself, business is back and better than ever. The day we bounced back was our most profitable day ever. This experience has increased my faith in myself and my respect for the entrepreneurial community. As entrepreneurs, or people who seek to make a true difference in the world, you will undoubtedly have to deal with this situation. Practice the rules of survival, and you will join the most elite alumni network the world has ever known.

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