There are two central ingredients to success: Risk and Persistence. I refer to them as “The Catalyst of Success.”

There are thousands and thousands of great entrepreneurial ideas out there. Millions of people have big financial hopes and dreams. There are a lot of people who can talk about their concept or idea with great conviction and flair—or about how they could improve an entire industry with their unique insight and experience.

But for all of the millions of ideas, concepts and plans only a very, very small number of them ever come to fruition.

I’d like to point out two of the most overlooked principles of making any business endeavor a success—in fact these principles apply to any worthwhile endeavor that we might choose to pursue.

The first is RISK and the second is PERSISTENCE. These two principles are absolutely necessary ingredients for success.

When I was a teenager I shaped and glassed my own surfboards. I became very familiar with the process of solidifying fiberglass using a mixture of resin and catalyst. In order to create a bucket full of solution that would cover the entire surfboard, I would add three or four cups of marine resin and just about a tablespoon of catalyst—that tablespoon made all the difference—it was the key ingredient that caused the entire mixture to eventually solidify into a hard fiberglass finish.

In my opinion, Risk and Persistence are like the catalyst that will complete the business plan, or any plan for that matter. It’s what takes a project through to the finish line.

The trouble though, is that many people are either paralyzed by the potential costs of taking risks and choose to avoid something potentially great altogether, OR after taking a risk; lack the patience and tenacity, aka: Persistence that’s required to see something to the finish line. In a sense, they throw in the towel prematurely.

I think you can start to recognize the importance of these two principles.

Do you have some insight and experience about how the principles of Risk and Persistence have affected your life? Or do you have a comment or point in regard to these principles from which the readers can benefit?

Leave a comment and I’ll follow up with a reply as soon as I can…

As always, I’d love to hear back on your thoughts, advice and other feedback about these episodes…

Here are two recent appearances:

Every once in awhile a marketing campaign works perfectly. It’s rare, but it can happen. Recently, I found myself spending almost an hour glued to a marketing campaign. In fact, my three kids were huddled around with me staring at the monitor. We were a hypnotically captured audience. (Pathetic!)

Within 15 minutes my kids were pushing me to buy a thousand dollar blender. A thousand dollar blender? That’s ridiculous to consider. I mean, what, am I going to start the next great smoothie shop? I don’t think so. But I was still very tempted to purchase something I had no real need for and at a price that’s about 15 times the price of a similar product I could find at Target or Walmart.

I’d like you to take a look at the best online marketing website I have ever seen. And I’ve analyzed thousands of them.

When you’re finished checking this out…and after you purchase your first thousand dollar blender; I’d like you to give me your opinion about why this site works so well. What stands out for you? Why does this site hit the Holy Grail of marketing? I’ll look forward to your comments…

Here’s the site…hide your credit card: www.willitblend.com

Check out these great blog posts for more information about this topic:

6 Brilliant Marketing Campaigns

8 Steps for Great Marketing

Marketing on a Small Budget

6 Great Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns

How to Refresh Your Marketing Campaign

All of the rickshaw operators ride bikes and pull their passengers from place to place. It’s become a very competitive little business out here.

Recently I met a rickshaw operator that found a way to differentiate himself from the sea of competitors.

He found a way to be different, grab attention, earn loyalty and beat the competition. In fact, I was so impressed that I added him to my contacts in my iPhone—he’s there as “Energizer Phil.”

Energizer Phil wears these funky bunny ears and is the only guy in Austin who literally “runs” his rickshaw business the old fashioned way—the way it all started in Asia—by running his passengers from place to place. He’s got a ton of energy. Forget the bike, this guy truly earns his cash!

(And the funny thing was, he would run right past the guys cruising along on the bikes!)

His outfit, his hustle, and his uniqueness captures the attention of almost everyone on the street as he runs passengers up and down Sixth Street.

When I got out of a concert, I called him back up so he could take me to my car. And I tipped him really well. I doubt any of those regular bike rickshaws get that kind of repeat business and generous tips.

It doesn’t matter how common or competitive your business environment is. If you’re willing to be creative, unique, and go out on a ledge; there’s always an interesting way to out-do your competition.

Check out these great posts for more information about this topic:

Tips for Entrepreneurs

Are You An Innovator, Immitator, or Idiot?

1. “Focus on cash flow”: Guy explains how P&L profitability is important, but that’s not specifically what pays the bills.  Cash on hand is what’s key. With cash you literally pay your employees, vendors, and all other overhead. Cash is king.

2. “Make a little progress everyday”: Guy is suggesting the value of small steps…it’s no longer about major marketing campaigns.  Instead, his focus has turned more toward closing another sale, focusing on a better product and even ensuring a website is just a little more user friendly.  These baby steps are essentially what’ll bring the big picture to life.

3. “Try stuff”: Guy Kawasaki explains that luck happens only to those who try new things – not those who wait for things to happen.  Some of us sit back and pass up opportunities only to see someone else take it and run. You became an entrepreneur to become adventurous, so don’t forget to go out on a limb and experiment every once in a while.

4. “Ignore schmexperts”: Sometimes our gut is screaming so loud that we can’t hear anything else.  When it does, listen to it and not those so called experts.  They’ll always say “I told you so” whether you succeed or fail. Your gut instinct is usually more reliable!

5. “Never ask anyone to something that you wouldn’t do”: Don’t ask your client, employee, or vendor to do something that you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself.  This includes the small stuff—if you aren’t willing to do it yourself when it makes sense, you won’t have the respect of those you lead.  Sometimes we forget that we are dealing with people with busy and active lives… treat everyone as equally as possible.

I’ve given a summary, but go get it from the horse’s mouth!

Read Guy’s original post here: Lessons of Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur

Here are some related blog posts about this topic:

10 Myths of Entrepreneurship

What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur

Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs

Four Steps to Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur

11 Killer Instincts of Entrepreneurship

Here are the two most recent appearances on “The Big Idea.”

Check out these great blog posts for more information about this topic:

Finding a Niche

Are You Prepared for the Next Disaster

Do You Need Success Intervention?

Please visit Vimeo for more entrepreneur videos from Jeff Chavez:

Visit these great blog posts for more information about this topic:

Effective Set Prioritites

A Great Story for Entrepreneurs

The Entrepreneur Group on Vimeo
The Entrepreneur Album on Vimeo
More of Jeff Chavez on Vimeo

I’ve learned a great lesson: Everyone in your company must be honest, and if they’re not; it’s your fault and you’ll pay a price. And a report posted on the internet forced me to deal with the consequences.

Earlier this year while starting a new pay-per-click division within Northstar Ventures, it came to my attention that some of my employees used a previous pay-per-click vendor’s sales contract while waiting for our attorneys to complete our own. This plagiarized agreement was sent out to a handful of potential clients. It was the wrong thing to do and the original vendor happened across the agreement we had used.

To put it lightly, he wasn’t happy. And I would have been angry, too.

He called my cell phone and I addressed the situation immediately. Within 2 hours I uncovered the details of the situation and offered my sincere apology and took rapid action to remedy the problem. It cost one of the employees their job. This was my immediate email response to him:

“Wow. I had no knowledge of this and we will stop using that agreement immediately.

Now, let me explain how this happened:

…In the last 8 months we have hired 3 guys who just happened to have a deep background in SEO and PPC. In November, they came to me and said that they are getting several inquiries from our existing clients about SEO and PPC, and that we should offer those services since we have the expertise in-house. I gave the go-ahead and they created a little division within Northstar called Northstar Search. I paid so little attention to it, for example, that I didn’t even bother to cancel my project with you or bring it in-house, it just wasn’t a focus.

Later, they asked if they could start building a database and selling directly to other clients, which I approved. Since then, we have a very small client pool and it has not made much progress.

I never looked at any proposals or agreements, contracts or such because we have marketing or legal counsel who drafts everything for us and frankly, I just assumed that our marketing manager or controller would have taken any agreement drafting to them.

…At one point I had one of the PPC managers ask me questions about our agreement with you but I thought nothing of it at the time. Now, it is clear to me that is why he asked those questions; he made his own decision to use your proposal/agreement as our boiler-plate, and simply moved forward. I called him this morning and he verified this, he apologized profusely and said that he meant to tell me but never got around to it. Which is a lame excuse. But is also a lame excuse for me to have not watched more closely over this. (We have since completed our own document and stopped using your version many months ago.)

Les, I sincerely, sincerely apologize. The proposal will be deleted and your documents deleted immediately. I would not have approved this, there is no need to use another proposal or agreement when my team can draft something quickly.

I am very sorry, Les.

Sincerely,

Jeff”

Unfortunately for me, the vendor I was dealing with didn’t think I did enough. He did not accept my immediate apology and corrective actions. In fact, he took a harsh and vindictive approach and wrote a terribly negative and unfair “review” of me and our company on a site called “The Rip-Off Report.”

In his report, he characterized me, Northstar Ventures, and Northstar Thinktank as entirely fraudulent, dishonest, and unethical. Regardless of the real truth about me and our company, that characterization hurt.

It’s caused a certain degree of pain for us to have this report on-line. In time, the vendor recognized that he acted harshly and wrote the following update on Rip-off:

“The previous report was written after I had sent only one email to Jeff and had only given him enough time for one quick email response. In retrospect, I would like to retract some of the statements I made.

After careful consideration and communication with Jeff Chavez, he persuaded me to believe that he did not directly plagiarize my work. While he was the sole person within Northstar that received my written work, Jeff has assured me that he uploaded my proposal to his internal folder only as a reference for his internal staff. Anyone that has worked for a business with an internal, open network of staff folders knows that you’ve got to be careful what you put in there. That seems to me like an honest mistake.

An unscrupulous Northstar staff member, who still remains anonymous to me, took that proposal, which was very clearly written by an external party (my agency), and used all 9 pages of it verbatim, to pitch Northstar’s database of clients. My direct words were also used liberally on the website that Northstar built to market its new paid search management services. I would not have ever discovered this if this mystery person hadn’t accidentally copied my fax number onto the Northstar proposal as well. So I was faxed a copy of my proposal for a company that I had never heard of. I think this would make any business man very angry and just generally freaked out. That anger spewed forth in my hastily written report.

Jeff has apologized several times, expressing deep regret and has assured me that he knew absolutely nothing about the plagiarism on his company’s proposal or his company’s website. He claims to not have been involved. I have no proof or evidence, so I must take Jeff at his word. I will say that he seems like the kind of guy that wouldn’t make a rookie league mistake, such as forgetting to change the fax number of the guy you just plagiarized.

It should also be noted that under Jeff Chavez’s leadership, Northstar has worked with thousands of clients without a single negative comment being written about Northstar or himself. If you search around under Northstar; there are no on-line records of negativity. I can say the same for myself and that fact really does hold weight with me.

So this seems to have been an isolated case and a first-time occurrence. Looking back at my comments the rhetoric was unwarranted and harsh. Its actually very surprising to find that Northstar has been able to accumulate such a large client base without bringing on at least one or two naysayers.

So while the incident did happen and I have been truthful; I was mad and I hasty wrote my attack on Jeff. Blaming the sins of an organization on just one man, even the CEO, isn’t always fair. Its tough to keep tabs on such a large organization and make sure that every new hire is on the up and up. I do not regret the result of airing my grievances on this public forum. But it should be noted that my words were written when I was feeling mad, betrayed, and victimized and was blaming it all on one individual before I had all of the facts.

I still don’t have many of the facts and I don’t feel like this has been fully resolved. But I’m sure that neither of us desires any more public, on-line discussion of this situation. Let this update act as my public retraction of the prior Report.”

The update has helped, but I want to learn more from this experience.

I would greatly appreciate your comments and perspective in regard to the following questions:

First, do you think I did enough to correct this problem?

Second, do you think the vendor was too harsh?

Finally, what lessons can be learned from this?

At a recent speaking event I talked about these 11 Killer Instincts. I promised the attendees that I would summarize what they heard on my blog, so here’s a bullet point style summary of what we discussed together that night.

Hopefully, you’ll capture the essence here and over time I’ll perhaps expand on each topic in ongoing blog posts. In the meantime, I’d appreciate your comments, insight, and opinion about this discussion:

The entrepreneurial mindset is a distinct way of thinking, like an genetic mindset, that produces extraordinary results. That’s why I say that an entrepreneur is a different type of “species”, if you will. The mindset I am talking about is instinctual and in my opinion has more impact on professional success than education, connections, good looks, or money.

Instinct is, by definition, “An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a specific species.”

However you define it, most agree that there’s something “different” about the classic entrepreneur. My intention is to help people everywhere understand these unique characteristics, and develop them. They’re valuable for anyone; business owner, employee or manager. In fact, Jack Welch commented recently in Business Week, “In the end, pedigree is less important than the entrepreneurial nerve…that’s needed to succeed.”

Here’s a quick look at the 11 Killer Instincts of Entrepreneurship:

1. The Solution Instinct: This is about ideas and always seeing them. It’s about seeing new opportunities while traveling, shopping, or working. Seeing problems and potential solutions to those problems is at the heart of valuable ideas and business models.

2. The Detective Instinct: This is about fact-finding and due-diligence. It’s about letting go of the emotion and excitement of a good idea and taking a venture-capitalist approach. This instinct is something that keeps one constantly assessing how a business model will work, scale, and succeed… without personal bias.

3. The Great Communicator Instinct: This is about connecting and constantly selling. It’s a constant awareness that every point of communication matters. Whether communicating with partners, investors, vendors, employees, or competitors; every communication is an opportunity to strengthen your company.

4. The Youthful Genius Instinct: This is about doing what you love. When we were young, we dreamed big dreams and showed glimmers of what we might become. Tapping into the expectation of our youth is central to successful entrepreneurship.

5. The Entrepreneurial Heritage Instinct: This is about how our heritage can reveal some or our natural gifts. What has your family and ancestors been successful at already? Exploring your roots can help one tap into opportunity. There is a reason why many families pass along entrepreneurial success and create “dynasties” of their own.

6. The Risk-Taker Instinct: This is about going out on a ledge. No risk, no reward. It’s a fundamental factor of business building or almost any major endeavor. Finding the calculated balance of risk and opportunity is key.

7. The Work-Horse Instinct: This is about paying the price. Doing whatever it takes. Those “overnight successes” usually require at least 5 years of hard work and incredible sacrifice to get there.

8. The Thick-Skinned Instinct: This is about being tough. Resilience, optimism and a positive mindset reside in every great entrepreneur. The fundamental key to success in attaining goals? Never give up.

9. The Flexibility Instinct: This is about being willing to change. Emotion and pride must be removed from the process while building a business and paying attention to the best route to take. The right path naturally eventuates; if you’re willing to recognize it and take it.

10. The Human Instinct: This is about people. Attracting the best people is more important than the business model itself. Treating people well, leading well, and serving with care is a fundamental reason why anything worthwhile should be built in the first place.

11. The Knowledge-Quest Instinct: This is about constantly learning. Reading, thinking, listening, observing, absorbing, and applying is a hallmark trait of a great entrepreneur.

These are unique instincts and in my experience, everyone possesses at least a touch of each of them. And it’s my observation that every natural instinct can be discovered, uncovered, and developed by anyone interested in doing so.

Look within and uncover your entrepreneurial instincts. You’ll find that your personal ambitions and goals will rapidly progress, improve, and materialize.

I learned two important lessons: “Don’t Bring Your Pets to Work!” (at least not 10 at once) and, “It’s ok to say, ‘No’”.

First lesson: This was a simple one. Dogs are cute, but they really have no manners or etiquette. And guess what, they’ll poop anywhere they want to, even in the lobby of a nice office. So, three poops, four pee-puddles, two allergic reactions, and one can of Febreeze air freshener later; I’d learned my lesson. Our company won’t invite a gang of pets to the office again.

Second lesson: I’ll admit it, I said yes to this idea because I wanted to be a nice guy. But my gut told me–”pass on this one”. I should have followed my gut and just said “No”. Our great little culture would have been just fine.

I think “philly girl” summed it up best on a recent blog post when she quipped, “…If it’s ok to bring dogs, why stop there? Why not bring other pets? How about lizard day, or rabbit day, or potbellied pig day, or pony day?…and here’s another flaw, (outside of the chance of dogs fighting or ‘getting romantic’ with each other) is that a fair number of people a.) don’t like your pet, b.) are afraid of your pet, or c.) are allergic to your pet…”

I love pets, but not when they poop in my lobby–and in the future I’ll remember that sometimes it’s ok to just say, “Um, no”.

Check out these great blog posts for more information about this topic:

Take Your Pet to Work Day

Friday is Take Your Dog to Work Day

Happy Take Your Dog to Work Day