Learn how one EO member overcame major obstacles.
Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. The most important parts of the journey are learning, listening and being stubborn enough to succeed.
EO member Blake Garret experienced several pitfalls on his entrepreneurial business journey but was always stubborn enough to succeed. Learn more about his story in the video transcript below.
“I’ll answer the next one with a short story.”
Reading from a Truth Booth question card: “’Tell us about a time when you lost it all and how did you climb out of it?’”
“In 2012, I raised some money from friends to start my first business. I raised about $75,000. The business took seven different twists, seven different pivots. Basically, it failed seven different times. A year and a half later, I had $2,000 left. I had $50,000 in credit card debt. I went to a dinner to raise money for the business with two investors. One of them told me he would basically write a $25,000 check the very next day if I could convince the other guy to invest. I really, really needed to convince this other guy. About 3 minutes into dinner, I’m giving my very passionate pitch and this guy says, ‘You need to stop this business. It’s not a good idea.’ For two days after that, I didn’t leave my room.”
“It was the deepest depression I’d ever know. Two days later, the guy who told me it was a bad idea told me, word for word, ‘You’re not a complete idiot. A lot of what you’re doing makes sense,’ and gave me some criteria to go focus on. I was able to turn it into what is now an 8-figure business. But it was bleak for a minute! There’s a fine line between listening so you can learn and get feedback and being just stubborn enough so that you can turn that contrarian idea into a big business. Somewhere in there lies a lot of success that is sometimes hard to find.”
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