Another Example of Persistence

If you want to be in the publishing business, you have to listen to your inner voice and continue persistently moving ahead--even in the face of rejection, disappointment or any other obstacle. Many of the decisions are admittedly subjective. One person loves your writing and wants to get it out into the marketplace while someone else doesn't see it and rejects it. You (and I) are on that constant search for someone to champion your work and get it published. It's not easy and takes a good measure of regular and consistent persistence.

I love this quotation from James Whitcomb Riley which came across my screen today from Cynthia Kersey at Unstoppable. Riley said, "The most essential factor is persistence - the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come."

In my local newspaper, I ran across this story about Terry Fator, the Dallas-based ventriloquist who captured the heart of America last year in the America's Got Talent contest and won a million dollars. You may have skipped over this story but I'd encourage you to read it again and look for the persistence. Fator was "on the verge of bankruptcy" (first paragraph), "snarky comments about ventriloquists" (third paragraph), and the turnaround (fifth paragraph from the end of the article) "In February 2007, Fator auditioned his act for three different Las Vegas producers; each one told him he wasn't "Vegas material." This May, he signed a $100 million, five-year deal to headline at Vegas' Mirage hotel, beginning Feb. 14. Now he has a full-time manager, road manager, publicist and a team of writers."

In the face of rejection, we need to persist in improving our craft of writing but also getting our work into the marketplace for consideration (and possible acceptance). It's what I'm doing today. How about you?

Are You Unstoppable?

Earlier this year in March, I met Cynthia Kersey who is the founder of Unstoppable Enterprise when she was a speaker at Mega Book Marketing University in Los Angeles. We exchanged business cards and I was added to her Unstoppable Insights list. Every day, I get a short email with an inspirational quotation such as the one today from Harvey Mackay, "Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life." Some of them are more relevant to my situation at the moment than others but they are excellent. If you want to receive these insights, follow this link where you can sign up.

On a regular basis, Cynthia sends a longer email and I received this one last week with an excerpt from her book, Unstoppable Women. Within the publishing community, we face a lot of rejection of our ideas. Yes, we know it's just business and not personal but we pour our hearts into these projects. The encouragement that I received from Cynthia--and I want to pass along to you is to treat rejection as another hurdle and continue making progress toward your goal. Eventually you will attract others who want to help you. Look at this brief excerpt and the persistent attitude and action from Michele Hoskins. Also notice the positive persistence that Hoskins used to reach her goal.

"Michele Hoskins's recipe for success came from her great-great-grandmother's honey cream syrup. But persistence was the major ingredient. She won a $3 million contract with Denny's after calling them every single week for 2 years straight.

"At the time I got the idea to market my honey cream syrup to Denny's restaurants, they were known as the worst company to do business with for minorities, and they were experiencing a lot of bad press and discrimination suits. I was a woman and a minority, and I made a great syrup, something they sold a lot of. I believed that they needed me as much as I needed them.

Each Monday morning at 10:30, I'd call their corporate office. Over a period of time, everyone in the organization knew I wanted their business. The receptionist would say, 'Michelle's on the phone. Who's talking to her today?' I talked to a lot of people, all promising to get back with me, but they never did. I spoke with the receptionist, secretaries, people in the diversity department, procurement, product development, sales - anyone who would listen.

They really didn't know what to do with me, but they continued to take my calls. After two years, they got a new CEO, Jim Adamson, who restructured the company. He was very interested in making Denny's a diverse organization and improving their reputation. He had heard about my story and asked, 'Why aren't we doing business with this woman?'

I ended up getting business from their diversity division and doing what I set out to do, not only delivering syrup to their 17,000 restaurants, but helping their image by becoming their poster child for diversity.

The funny thing was that at the time I was approaching them, I was a small manufacturer in Chicago making syrup locally. I wasn't remotely prepared to manufacture and deliver my syrup to more than 17,000 restaurants. But I thought once I got the business, I'd figure out how to do it. I've learned that anything the mind can conceive, can manifest through hard work, perseverance, and faith."

Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life."

Yes, Michele Hoskins was unstoppable. Are you unstoppable? If not, can you become unstoppable?