Two Things I Keep Noticing in Successful Entrepreneurs

I love reading biographies, specifically autobiographies of successful and interesting people. I find them much more insightful than how-to and theory-based books. I like learning about their stories and how they overcame challenges and achieved success. It’s educational and inspiring.

I’ve read quite a few in my day, mostly about entrepreneurs and business people. Two things keep showing up: creative problem solving and sales.

01Creative problem solving

Every entrepreneur I’ve read about seems to have examples of this throughout their journey. They run into a problem, and instead of accepting that something won’t work, they figure out another way. Their creativity always amazes me.

One of my favorite examples comes from Jesse Itzler, co-founder of Marquis Jet, which sold to NetJets, a Warren Buffett company.

Early on, Jesse flew to Monterey, CA, hoping to meet prospective clients at a TED conference. Only, he couldn’t get into the event.

What’d he do? Go home?

Nope.

He noticed attendees were going to a nearby coffee shop during breaks. So the next morning, he got there early and bought every muffin they had.

When an attendee ordered a muffin and was told they were sold out, Jesse offered him one. He had set up a table out front. That gave him a way to start a conversation. One of those conversations happened to be with a man in need of a private jet charter, who became his first customer.

He couldn’t get into the conference, but he figured out a creative solution to his problem, turning adversity into opportunity and, in his case, meeting the people he came for.

One more example:

Another one of my favorite examples comes from Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group and a Shark on the ABC show Shark Tank.

When Barbara was selling apartments in a new building, she had a problem: the units weren’t moving.

So she came up with a creative solution.

She invited every prospective buyer to the building at the same time and announced that the condos would be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, all at the same price.

This isn’t how condos are sold. No one had done this before.

The result? People rushed to buy, and the entire building sold out quickly. Barbara used creative problem solving to create urgency and the perception that the apartments were in high demand.

That’s what I keep noticing in these books. Different people, different industries, different problems. They keep finding a way.

What else do they have in common?

02Sales

That’s right. They’re great at sales, and they’re fucking proud of it.

Some people consider sales a dirty word. I don’t.

We’re all in sales, one way or another. On a job interview, you’re selling someone on hiring you. When you’re getting your team behind your vision, you’re selling them on where you want to go. When you’re on a date, you’re selling them on why they should see you again. When you have something that truly solves a prospective customer’s problem, you still have to help them see the value in it.

Having a great idea is one thing. Getting someone else to believe in it, buy it, or help you build it is another.

Jesse’s story is a good example of both. Buying the muffins got him a conversation. He still had to turn that conversation into a client. Barbara found a creative way to get attention, but she still had to sell those units.

Barbara Corcoran, Cameron Johnson, MJ DeMarco, Richard Branson, John D. Rockefeller, T. Boone Pickens, Ted Turner, Mark Cuban, Will Guidara, Sam Walton, Bill Rancic, Jeremy Schoemaker, Steve Jobs, Ryan Blair, Marc Ecko, Daymond John, Lori Greiner, Jim McCann, John Morgan. I’ve read their biographies and plenty of others. Creative problem solving and sales keep coming up.