Today I had a big sales meeting with huge ramifications for the future of my company.  We were under pressure to come in and show a client why we were worth a lot more money than the competing offers.  My company had done a lot of work for the opportunity to close this deal, and today was crunch time.  Either we walked out with the deal, or we did not.  I also had an added reason to be nervous about the meeting.

Last night we found out that a Web Development competitor proposed a price to our clients that was not only a lot cheaper, but supposedly faster as well.  This was of course, not possible.  But how was I to know the client believed me?

For those that are new, or for those that like to reminisce, here are a few popular posts from the last few months under the category….

‘Secrets of Success‘.

Embracing Life’s Only Constant: Change

Bad Habits Help Make Good Habits

Patience: Virtue of the Successful

Are You Properly Measuring Progress?

Enjoy!

Stumble It!

Today, I happened to catch the first 20 minutes of an interesting documentary about the life of the famous boxer Rocky Marciano.  Being Italian, I always heard stories about Rocky Marciano and his undefeated record of 49-0.  I knew of the legend, but never anything about the real story behind it.

The documentary was interviewing family and friends of Rocky when he grew up in Massachusetts.  They all talked about his great work ethic, and his love of athletics.  But the one thing they said about Rocky that always stood out, was something their parents always repeated to them in Italian…

I always learn more by teaching Jiu Jitsu than just by rolling (sparring).  This morning, as I was helping instruct a brand new student, I wound up teaching myself something about life.  The new student was having trouble maintaining his balance.  He would start out kneeling in a strong position on the ground (sort of like the person in blue above), but after he began to try and pass the guard (his opponents legs), he would get swept to his back time and time again.

The other day, I ran into a person I went to high school with.  We both looked at each other and had that five seconds of an awkward moment when you are racking your brain trying to remember where you know each other from.  To break the awkwardness, I smiled, and put out my hand.  Immediately, he shook my hand and we began the routine ‘how have you been?’ convo.

I tend to run into a lot of people because I have known them through my family and businesses.  One of the things that I always find strange is that moment of awkwardness that happens on these chance run-ins.  You know, you have just left your home in a hurry, not looking your best.  You enter the super market all frazzled just trying to grab the necessities and get on the shortest line possible.

Progress is an obvious key to attaining any goal you desire. With every goal, you have a starting point, and then you have your goal, which is the end point.  In between is where the progression happens.  However, the path of progression is no escalator.  It does not continually go up until you reach your destination.  This is what many people fail to understand when they set out to accomplish a goal.

Sometimes you take 5 steps back to take 10 steps forward.

Judging your progress day to day can be extremely taxing on your mind.  If you need some reassurance during a particularly bad time of little or no progress, simply do your research.  Find out if others have faced similar trials in their attempts.  Chances are, you are not alone.

After struggling for the last few months, and surviving by the skin of our teeth, my company Reimagine’s hard work has finally paid off.  We calculated our balance sheet for the next few months, and finally, some money is starting to trickle in.  It has been a long journey, but I finally feel we are breaking into a new plateau.  We have reached the next level.

Last night, I had the privilege of sitting in on the final tweaking of the first major album from FallOut Shelter Records (FOS).  I sat in a Brooklyn studio with the lead man, D-Boards (Danny), Haylo, Kimbo, his man John Q, my partner Chris, and the sound engineer, Matt.  They are in the midst of what has been an incredible 7 year journey.

As the final mixing was being applied before sending it off to an industry giant for mastering, I couldn’t help but smile.  I have only known these guys for over a year, but I know their story well.  They have been through one nightmare after another, yet have survived due to their incredible persistence, courage, and determination.  They thought of giving up all the time.  They struggled financially.  They gave every ounce of everything they had to give toward this album, even when they had nothing at all.

The one thing I definitely have learned over the course of my many business ventures is you do not have to reinvent the wheel to be successful.  As a matter of fact, it is a complete waste of energy.  As the title says, leave the wheel alone!  Success is not based on you creating a brand new way to do everything.  You simply have to build off of others success.

For example, when I started my mortgage branch, it was an exciting time.  I needed to get in Loan Officers and somehow generate leads in a declining market.  However, I did not need to reinvent the wheel doing so.  There was no magic lead source, or magic lead system.  It strictly took working the phones, canvasing, and word of mouth.  That’s it.

In Jiu Jitsu, life is all made pretty clear right on the mat.  You can always tell if a new guy is going to last by the way they handle competition.  Those who thrive on winning, and throw temper tantrums when they lose, never last too long.  Instead of learning the most consistent ways to be effective, they spend the entire time trying to find cheap, lucky ways to win.

The people who last in Jiu Jitsu typically react to winning and losing exactly the same.  If you looked at their face right after a match, you wouldn’t be able to tell the outcome.  They lose, they move on.  They win, they move on.  Either way, they are just happy to be competing.