17 | December | 2008 | CapeCodBranding

Archive for December 17, 2008

The Five Keys to Success Part I

Acknowledgment
Celebration Cape Cod Branding and our blog CCB Buzz had a phenomenal day. It was a day of firsts in two important ways. For the first time we reached and exceeded our 1,000 site visitor milestone. Second, we had 722 visitors to our blog in one day! I wanted to start today’s discussion by thanking all of you, whether you are a regular reader, or just stopped by to check us out; we would certainly like to see more of you and hope that you join us throughout our growth and journey. Not too shabby for a blog slightly over two weeks old!

Background
In commemoration of achieving two significant milestones today I decided to move this two part series up in the rotation and mix Keys things up a bit due to the relevance of this series. I’ve entitled this series the Five Keys to Success as I believe they are instrumental to nearly anything that you do, especially to starting a business or promoting a brand. The five keys are as follows:

1. Time
2. Patience
3. Perseverance
4. Passion
5. Persistence

Perseverance and persistence are arguably the same, however I found each in a different context and therefore thought it important to separate the two.

Time, Patience, and Perseverance
The timing of this milestone was interesting in that I am currently reading a book titled Born in Blood by John J. Robinson . This book provides a history of Born In Blood Book Cover the Knights Templar and a potential connection to Freemasonry, which at first seems to have nothing to do with business, or branding for that matter. However, at one point the author describes a monument erected to honor a legendary Masonic character that contained a Figure of Time which “reminds us that time, patience, and perseverance accomplish all things.” This statement struck a chord with me given the basic simplicity yet ultimate truth implied. Also, this statement triggered recent thoughts I had that seem particularly relevant to personal, business, and brand development which lead to the passion and persistence pieces I had picked up in another experience.

In yesterday’s Branding and Outliers post I had discussed the 10,000 Hour Rule as outlined by Malcolm Gladwell the author of the best Time selling Outliers: The Story of Success book. The gist of this theory is that a person or group is usually considered world class when they have achieved 10,000 hours of experience within their chosen area of expertise, with an assumption of 20 hours a week over 10 years.

My opinion is that this is the time portion of the time, patience, and perseverance statement. Not that it should take you 10,000 hours to turn a profit, or be successful, just generally to be known as a top contender in your field. My thought is that it also takes a great deal of patience and perseverance to achieve 10,000 hours of anything. Patience to wait for something good to happen, and perseverance to push through the low points or valleys that all entrepreneurs know all too well. If one has the patience to wait for the resultant good things to happen, the perseverance to push through the tough times, and the wherewithal to achieve 10,000 hours of deliberate practice in a given field, then excellence will be achieved and many good things will happen along the way.

Passion and Persistence
Gene Theus, a former classmate at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Carey Business School had prompted a discussion concerning “passion and persistence” while we were wrapping up our MBA program. The statement was in response to a faculty query concerning business opportunity within the new economy and may be summed up as follows: “Recognizing the opportunity and delivering a cost effective solution needs to then be followed with passion and persistence.” This statement has stuck with me since that point and has resurfaced from time to time during the peaks and valleys that I have experienced since founding Cape Cod Branding with my business partner Amy.