Naysayers never built a great enterprise. Entrepreneur’s dream is to start with a great idea, attract some investors, and build a business profitable and sustainable. However, you usually have to start as the underdog trying to raise money for a new enterprise, and the following things can happen:
- People will shut you out.
- People will regard you with suspicion.
- People will undermine your self-confidence.
- People will offer you every reason imaginable why your idea simply won’t work.
Being an underdog, for facing such adversity can be invigorating.
Believe strongly that I could pull it off.
So confident of winning that enjoy being in a where people’s expectations are so low that I know I could beat them.
Those who follow the road less traveled create new industries, invent new products, build long-lasting enterprises, and inspire those around them to push their abilities to the highest levels of achievement.
If you stop being the scrappy underdog, fighting against the odds, you risk the worst fate of all: mediocrity.
For Howard, 217 out of 242 people said, “No!”
The hardest part was maintaining an upbeat attitude.
You really have to be a chameleon; you have to sound as fresh and confident as you were at your first meeting even if you are depressed.
Howard never once believed that his plan wasn’t going to work; he was truly convinced that the essence of the Italian espresso experience–the sense of community and artistry and the daily relationship with customer–was the key to getting Americans to learn to appreciate great coffee.
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