Ideas are Cheap

Think Pink

Mary Ash was born on May 12, 1918. When she was six years old, she had to look after her ill grandfather while her mother was the working to provide for the family. Throughout her life, Mary’s mother had a huge impact her, and she attributed her spirit to her mother who encouraged her with the words, "You can do it." When Ash passed away in 2001, her company, Mary Kay Cosmetics, had over 800,000 representatives in 37 countries with total annual sales over $2 billion.

Dude Gets One

On February 23, 1965, Michael was the new son to a stockbroker and an orthodontist. He was an inquisitive kid who was always tinkering with something. At only eight years old, he applied to take his high school equivalency exam. By the time he was fifteen, he was making money with his investments in stocks and precious metals. In 2010, Dell Inc. made $61.49 billion in gross revenue and $2.63 billion in net revenue. And Michael Dell’s personal wealth is estimated at $14.6 billion.

Square and Fresh

Dave never knew his mother. She died five weeks after his birth and he was adopted a week later. At just twelve, he got his first part-time job at The Regas Restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee. When he was fifteen, he got a job at Hobby House Restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His father informed him that the family was going to move and he decided to drop out of school and stay. He spent the rest of his life working as an advocate for adoption and education. At the time of Dave Thomas' death in 2002, Wendy’s sold millions of Old Fashioned Hamburgers a year in over 6,000 restaurants.

Secret of Success

We love the stories of hard work and success. And it’s easy to look at these examples and think these people always had clear vision and knew they would find success at such a high level. The truth is, it takes a lot of help from many others in each case to realize the dream. There were mistakes and victories. It’s easy to look at the numbers.

Seth Godin says that most people fall short because it’s easier to fail small. It may be our fear of failure. It could be our fear of success. Perhaps it’s our fear of the unknown. But it doesn't matter when the idea resides in theory where nothing can harm it.

Got any ideas? Ready to share them? Yeah, me too!

Kneale Mann

image credit: istock