by Teresa Kuhn, JD, RFC, CSA
President, Living Wealthy Financial Group
Host of Living Wealthy Radio
Dreaming of finding a huge fortune, an entrepreneur bought an old safe at an auction. The business from which the safe had come had been closed for many years and no one had the combination.
Undaunted, he called a locksmith to try to get the safe open.
The first locksmith told the businessman that it would cost forty dollars to open the safe intact. However, after trying several different methods, he was unable to open it,. “You’ve wasted your money,” he told the entrepreneur..
Still, the entrepreneur refused to believe that the safe could not be opened.
He decided to call another locksmith who turned out to be a curmudgeonly, grizzled old man. The old locksmith examined the safe carefully, wrote down the name of the manufacturer and went back to his truck. Shortly, he returned with a drill, a special bit, a ruler, and a small, bent piece of metal.
Measuring a few inches from the dial the locksmith drew an “x” on the dial at the 2 'clock mark and began to drill.
After more than an hour, he was able to drill through the safe. . He then took the bent metal piece, put it through the hole and moved it around until a loud “CLICK” was heard.
Turning the handle the door swung open slowly.
The safe was empty.
Disappointed, the entrepreneur turned to the locksmith and asked the charge for opening the safe.
“A hundred and fifty dollars,” replied the locksmith.
“A hundred and fifty dollars?!” shouted the businessman, “Are you kidding me! The other locksmith only wanted forty! I want to see an itemized bill for your work.”
“Okay.” The locksmith went out to his truck and returned a few minutes later,. He handed the entrepreneur a dirty piece of crumpled paper upon which was written
Charge for drilling hole: $40
Charge for knowing WHERE to drill hole: $110.
Media celebrity Geraldo Rivera endured a similar "safe-fail" in 1986; one that threatened to end his career but wound up furthering it instead.
The 2 hour special : The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults was broadcast live on April 21, 1986, having been preceded by some of the most intense hype in television history.
The program included IRS agents, ready to pounce on any Capone cash they found, as well as a medical examiner just in case there was a body or two uncovered. Millions were spent on producing and promoting the special and it drew the largest audience in history for a television special.
After a lot of emotional build-up, the vault was at last opened, revealing only dirt and several empty bottles including one Rivera claimed was moonshine. It was an embarrassing let-down which theoretically should have ended Rivera’s career.
But… we all know that it didn’t. In fact, Geraldo, in the spirit of a true entrepreneur went on to make millions in broadcasting, hosting his own shows, producing, and doing special reports for various networks.
In his 1991 autobiography, “Exposing Myself, Rivera wrote “My career was not over, I knew, but had just begun. And all because of a silly, high-concept stunt that failed to deliver on its’ titillating promise.”
If anything differentiates entrepreneurs from those chained forever to an employee mentality it is this: entrepreneurs are not afraid to fail, not afraid to fall on their faces in front of others or to entertain risk. In fact, the most successful entrepreneurs embrace failure and rejection as tools with which they will eventually build something that works.
Thomas Edison said “I have not failed… I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Still, it’s never easy being rejected, having your ideas mocked, or falling on your face in front of others.
Author and entrepreneur James Altucher claims that 15 out of 17 businesses he started wound up failing, leaving him in a state of depression, despair, and self loathing.
His solution, brilliantly outlined in his latest book, “Choose Yourself, was to develop what he calls the “Simple Daily Practices”
“All you really need to do to get off the floor is acknowledge that it’s not your external life that needs to change (you have little control over that) but the external changes flow from the inside.” He says.
The Simple Daily Practice, means doing any one of the following things EACH DAY.
James suggests, among other things:
1. Sleeping a full 8 hours
2. Eating two meals a day instead of three
3. Going without television
4. Avoiding all junk food
5. Not complaining for an entire day
6. Not gossiping about another person
7. Returning an email from five years ago
8.Expressing thanks to a friend
9.Watching a funny movie or standup routine
10.Writing down a list of ideas…about anything
11.Saying to yourself, “I’m going to save a life today.” Then, watching out for that person whose life you are going to save.
12. Thinking of ten people for whom you are grateful
13. Surprising someone
14. Telling someone every day that you love them
15. Taking up a hobby. Don’t say you don’t have time. Learn the piano, take chess lessons, do stand up comedy. Do something that takes you out of your rhythm.
Above all, learn to stop time traveling, stop living in the past and trying to catapult yourself into the future. Learn to live in the present, to accept failures as the most important ingredient for success.
And… have a sense of humor..
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