Persistence

One of the keys to running a successful business that I think isn't discussed enough is persistence. Yes, you do hear that it is important, but it can't be said enough how crucial it is for success. It is even more important than brains, connections, a good product/service- none of that means much without the persistence and drive to keep going, particularly when things are difficult. I can't tell you how many times I need to follow up with people to get things done on a daily basis. There are frequent times when I think about giving up on a person, but decide to make one more follow up call and that is the one that leads to success. When I get a rejection letter from a grant, my first response (after the first couple of minutes of disappointment during the short drive back from the post office) is to get back on the computer and start searching for the next grant that we can apply for. It is that drive to keep going in the face of rejection that is so important.

I was particularly thinking about how important it is to be persistent today- I was doing a lot of follow up with our calendar, date auction and anniversary event. We have a lot of auction items that have been promised, but now I need to focus on getting them in hand. It can take a lot of phone calls/emails just to get the items that people already promised months ago. There is one auction item that I will be picking up this week which took 4 messages and 3 emails since March in order to get. It isn't a particularly big auction item either. I know that people are busy, but sometimes it does get frustrating the amount of time that I have to spend following up with people.

On that note friends, I am off to bed. It is barely midnite, but I'm rather tired. It was another late night last night- almost 2am- and I was definitely feeling it this morning. I really feel a lot more awake when I get to bed earlier. So I am going to eat a few more cherries, write my list and sleep. Until tomorrow friends...