A Story Of Success: Rethinking What You Love

Seth Godin in The Bootstrapper’s Bible tells that story of a friend of his. She loved making things and she was good at it. She could use leftover clumps to create beautiful fabric. She could use almost any piece of fabric to create great pieces of art. She was good at it and she loved it.

Like everyone else, she had heard about how the secret to success lies in doing what you love. She loved this and so decided to start making toys and pieces for the toy industry. As Seth explains, she did all the right things right and avoided all the bad things. But she almost always seemed to get close but never really get a contract with the big manufacturers.

It was only years later that she discovered her mistake. She had chosen the wrong industry! Nobody really wanted her because the toy industry is cutthroat and the “big” fish don’t really like to encourage inventions and inventors. As Seth Godin observes: “… Toy companies work hard to keep inventors away, because they’re scared of lawsuits and the hassles of dealing with outsiders. They’re not overflowing with happy, Tom Hanks–like luminaries, looking for the next Big Idea. The toy industry is a business, and a cutthroat one.”

She had worked hard and none of it was yielding any fruit. She simply wasn’t becoming successful. Her story of success seemed elusive.

That is when she decided to go into publishing. She studied the market and the industry in general and decided that it was more open to new ideas. She developed new concepts based on what she loved and had learnt over the years. A few months down the line, her calendar concept was picked up by a publisher and what followed was over 2 million of copies of their work in print. She is experiencing success because she went back to the drawing board and rethought what she loved.

Are you doing what you love and yet still not experiencing success? Maybe it is time for a little bit of a rethinking exercise. Maybe the key to success in your life lies in thinking differently, in applying a little bit more of creativity.

The Success Story Of The Farm Boy Who Formed A Cosmetics Empire

Success stories such as these remind us that it is possible to achieve our dreams no matter the obstacles on the way. This is the success story of a farm boy who grew up to become a teacher and a hairdresser. But that was way before he formed four successful cosmetic companies that are still an operational success over 60 years later.

While working as  a chemistry teacher, Jheri Redding worked as  a hair stylist – just to be able to pay the bills. He however grew frustrated with each passing day in his career as a hair stylist simply because the products he was using were not effective.

Rather than rant and rave, Jheri simply started experimenting with various ingredients in his kitchen. He tried mixing the hair products with vinegar, mayonnaise and many other food stuffs. The positive results and the positive feedback he got encouraged him further, and where he didn’t get it right, he tried something else.

His willingness to experiment with different products soon saw him develop a number of treatments, gels and styling creams. Since they were so successfully received, he decided to build his brand – he eventually settled on Jheri Redding Products.

Due to the success of his products, he decided to form a company. He formed his first in 1956, then another in 1960, the next in 1968 and the fourth in 1979. Through sheer will and determination, this man who spent his time styling people’s hair ended up forming an extremely successful cosmetics empire… and all these companies are still in operation to date.

His secret to success? Seth Godin, in The Bootstrappers Bible writes:

“Redding created lasting businesses through the combination of a gift for spotting long-term opportunity and his relentless drive to create significant competitive advantages in product features and distribution clout. The Illinois farm boy became a cosmetologist during the Great Depression because he saw hairdressers prospering and farmers failing. … was the first to add vitamins and minerals to shampoos, the first to balance the acidity of the formulas, and the first to urge hairdressers to supplement their haircutting income by selling his products on the slow days …There arenʼt many like Jheri Redding, who also founded Redken (1960), Jhirmack (1976), and Nexxus Products (1979).”