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…

Well, our big brother Greg made quite a compelling pitch to the investors on American Inventor last night.

We sure are proud of him!

He really did a few simple things very well that so many entrepreneurs fail to get right. Usually, an eager entrepreneur will take far too long to get to the point and fail to paint a crystal clear picture of the value of their idea.

I think Greg did a great job of getting straight to the point, and made a compelling case.

Here are three things he did well, that anyone seeking investors can learn from:

1. Explain your concept quickly and clearly. Greg didn’t mess around with a long preamble, he got right to it and explained, “My invention is a fire protection system for your Christmas tree.” Simple, clear.

2. Quickly identify the problem you are addressing and the solution you provide. Greg hit this immediately with a powerful video clip and some quick stats.

3. Show passion and create emotion. Greg hit it out of the park on this one, sharing a genuinely heart-felt example of why this product is so important.

In case you missed the episode, here you go:

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10 Tips for a Successful Entrepreneurial Pitch

I received an email last week from a very well known marketing guru.

He’s been around for many years; a best-selling author, world renowned speaker, and adviser to some of America’s biggest brands. (I’m tempted to reveal his name, for my own selfish impact, but I can’t bring myself to do that! Hint: His name is not Seth)

The email invited me, “…to attend a special teleconference for business owners, entrepreneurs and people with start-up business ideas.”

Just the type of thing I like to investigate. So I registered.

Here is a part of the confirmation email I received on the morning of the teleconference. Read it carefully and see if you can find the key missing components:

You are confirmed to participate in the 90 minute special Business
Building Teleconference workshop for business owners, entrepreneurs,
professionals and people with start-up business ideas.

Mark your calendar.  The call takes place on Saturday, April 21, 2007
at   Please check your local time differences, to make certain you don’t
miss the correct start time.

To review: the call will last 90 minutes.  It’s broken down into two
integrated, progressive parts.  The call will begin promptly at the exact
start time.  We recommend you have a thick pad and more than one pencil
ready.

The special dial in number to use is:

The pass-code to get in/on is:

Needless to say, I have a feeling the attendance was low. I doubt they made much money on whatever the special offer was going to be at the end of the call.

There is a surprising amount of planning, preparation and thought that goes into any successful event. You can’t afford to blow it.

Here’s our obvious advice: You can avoid disaster by simply checking, double checking, and triple checking the vital elements like date, time, location, phone number, and website address.

Now, I have to be honest here, our team has made our share of communication errors with a few of our launches, so my simple advice does not come from a platform of perfection, but from experience.

Apparently, even great, experienced marketers like the one mentioned above can rush past the details. So, don’t underestimate the obvious.

Remember that old adage: “Measure Twice, Cut Once.”

Final note on this; I admit to watching “The Apprentice” (sigh); and you might recall a few weeks ago that “The Donald” fired a candidate for including the wrong number on a marketing brochure.

Need I say more?

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

Gross Writing Errors Found on the Web

5 Common Mistakes that Make You Look Dumb

8 Proofreading Tips and Techniques

Make it Big (to Proofread)

How to Proofread

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Entrepreneurs, by nature, are emotional liars.

Our nature is to get so excited about our vision, adopt an unstoppable optimism, and refuse to face the realities of market factors. We get emotionally attached, and we lie (not in the malicious sense) to ourselves and others when market truths scream that something is wrong. It’s a classic formula for failure.

Here’s why this isn’t all bad; the truth is, your initial failures associated with emotional business decisions can eventually be the key to your future success. Ford’s famous Edsel was a massive flop in 1957, but because of it, the Mustang emerged in 1964.

The idea is that you want to fail fast, learn quickly, and hopefully the failures, while painful, are not fatal. In the case of Ford, they could afford to learn this painful lesson without going out of business. In the case of an independent entrepreneur or small operator, you might not have as much room for error, so you must consider this carefully. (Want some extreme examples? Recall the great flops of the late 90’s.)

So, keep this in mind…first and foremost, don’t get too emotionally attached to your business idea. If you find yourself defensive or angry when someone effortlessly pokes a hole in your concept, or if you have to work real hard to “prove” that it’ll work–you’re in very dangerous territory. Second, understand that there are a thousand ways to get where you want to go, and often the first idea might not materialize, but a new solution or idea will eventuate in ways you could never have planned. It’s amazing how this happens.

You’ve just got to stick with it and keep learning.

PS-Need some more evidence that “liar” can be an appropriate term for eager entrepreneurs (hey, I’ve told many standard emotional lies myself!)? In a classic post, Guy Kawasaki provides a list of The Top 10 Lies of Entreprenuers from the perspective of a seasoned Venture Capitalist.

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

“No Surprises, Jeff”