CAM Blog Podcast with Jim Kukral on Failure
Sep 30, 2008 Motivation and Success
Jim opened this podcast conversation with a great question… “What if this podcast … failed?”
I responded that it wouldn’t be the first time that happened.
A few weeks back I saw a video or post on Jim’s site talking failure and how it’s actually a fact of life in the business world. We’re humans after all and according to one of the beliefs that most all of us here subscribe to, there has only ever been one perfect Man - and that man is not your or me. As good as your intentions are, or your planning is, we’re all going to fail at some point, and usually multiple times.
Jim is a serial entrepreneur, so he fails more than most , and so I thought it would be awesome to have a chat with him on Failure and how to get past it. I sometimes swear that Jim comes up with some of his ventures with a dartboard or something. Some of his ideas pan out really well and some don’t and get dropped to focus on what is working and other new ideas.
Jim and I discussed some business failures we have been involved in including companies we’ve been with that have tanked completely, struggles we’ve had and how we’ve overcome Failure in our own business and personal lives. The bottom line is this. If you let Failure or the fear of it control you or paralyze you, you will never meet the potential that God gave you.
There is an element of risk involved in any business venture, mission venture, church plant, etc and the way I see it, the real failure is when you let fear of failure get in the way of taking that leap of faith that would put you in position to do awesome things in your life for your family, your business or your ministry.
We also talked about our run in last week with formal Apple head and current Venture Capitalist Guy Kawasaki and his stories of his failures that inspired us… and made some of our failures look pretty minimal. Guy incidentally was one of the best Keynote speakers I have ever seen. If you get the chance, see him. He killed me when he was being intro’d by PR Wiz Steve Rubel and he countered Steve’s assertion that Guy was one of the world’s leading evangelists. Guy corrected him saying “Jesus was pretty impressive… Billy Graham has done some cool stuff as well.”
The chat is a little goofy - but that’s Jim and I. We hope you enjoy it and take inspiration from stories of our failures by realizing that it happens to everyone. It’s learning from Failure and “getting back on the horse.” that differentiates the people who lead big lives from the folks that sit in the background with minimal impact.
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Tags: failure, guy kawasaki, steve rubel, tips for entrepreneurs
Zig Ziglar live at Get Motivated Conference
Aug 25, 2008 Motivation and Success
Zig spoke in an interview format with his daughter live in Seattle at the “Get Motivated” conference. He’s the reason I came as I grew up the son of a sales guy driving from sales call to sales call listening to Zig tapes.
Zig is 81 now and after a fall last year is a bit limited in his physical presence. He’s got some vertigo issues now and some short term memory issues that make it wasier for him to present seated and interviewed. His mind is still sharp as ever and his wit is dead on.
Zig spoke on importance of a strong “home court advantage” meaning love your kids, love your mate and love your neighbors. He also spoke on the importance of Integrity in life and business.
He spoke of his interaction with a woman as a kid (Sister Jessie) who entered their home who came into their house talking about Christ and left 3 days later still talking about Christ who impacted him greatly - impressing on him Integrity and the need to do the right thing all the time.
He talked a bit about making sure that we wake up our kids and put them down with love and positivity.
He encouraged sales people to avoid procrastination and over-preparation. Great story.
His action items:
- Act with integrity
- Be a Constant Student
Of course, he also encouraged us with “we’ll see you not just at the top… but over the top”
A really cool part of the event today was that event Organizer and Speaker Tamara Lowe gave her testimony and and altar call that probably 100 + folks in the satellite location I am at responded to. One of the gifts they got was Zig’s testimony and his tips to living a Christian life.
