This article explains how commitment and perseverance will help you achieve your goals in business. Using an example from a huge fortune 500 company, you will see how most business owners give up and how you can avoid it.
If there is anything that I have learned over the years is that the most successful word in entrepreneurship is “commitment.” Did you know that 90% of all marketing campaigns fail, not because of the lack of quality, but because the marketer gave up too soon.
One huge example would be Marlboro. They were once pegged as a feminine-only brand. They just could not get male smokers to buy them. They were number 31 in the world for sales.
Then came the genius marketing team behind the Marlboro Man. Philip Morris sunk 18 million dollars into that campaign for an entire year.
…guess what, the following year they were still number 31, but the management knew they had the right concept and maintained “commitment” to the campaign. Today they are number 1.
1 out of every 6 cigarettes sold in the world is a Marlboro. Even after dumping 18 million into a campaign they could have bailed at any minute, but they didn’t.
Now, this is not a tip about smoking so please don’t write me about it (I won’t respond). That’s not the point. The point is COMMITMENT. You have to stay committed to your goals, your plan, your vision.
Without commitment you have nothing but hope, and that’s not going to get you anywhere without some serious action. Commit to your business and what it stands for. Commit to you goals of financial freedom. If you don’t give up, you can’t fail.
Commit to your customers. Commit to your marketing. Once you choose to follow that BIG word, everything else is just a speed bump here and there.
Joshua Black is an on-line infopreneur, marketing consultant, copywriter and educator dedicated to helping the bootstrapping small business owner succeed.