—Edward Vander, Pol. Chairman, Oak Harbor Freight Lines
“Great book for anyone in management of a business or thinking of starting a business. The real life stories illustrate ways to manage the obstacles you are sure to encounter. A great guide for business and life.”
—George Bagley, Airline President and CEO, (former)
“Tireless embodies two very important truths in business; ‘good enough is never good enough’ and ‘luck is when preparation meets opportunity.’ Tireless is a testimony to those who strive to seek opportunity.”
—James Flaherty, Chairman of the Board, Deloitte LLP (former)
“I have good news and bad news about this inspiring and compelling book. The bad news is that early in the book, you will want to quit your job and start a business like Kim Lorenz did. The good news is that by the time you finish, you’ll have found much of the wisdom you’ll need to give it a try. What a pleasure to read!”
—Joseph Castleberry, Ed.D., President, Northwest University
“Anyone can succeed if they try hard enough; easier said than done. Tireless gives some very practical and common-sense advice about how to drive towards your goals with vision, focus and unwavering commitment. A good read for anyone that has goals in life.”
—Tom Captain, Vice Chairman, Deloitte LLP (former)
Preface
From a young age, most of us can remember several individuals who played a role in how we eventually live our lives. In my case, as with millions of others, there were many people at different stages of growth that shaped what turned out to be a very successful career.
Growing up, a neighbor of my parents was an executive I admired. He spent time with me even after I started my professional career, and shared so many examples and experiences with me. During my school years, several teachers stood out who pulled me aside, giving words of wisdom and encouragement. One of them, James Shuman, visited me at my corporate offices 20 years after we launched that company. As a result of his continued encouragement, I went on to complete my MBA.
The person who first hired me for what turned out to be my career path also saw something I was not aware of—a quality I wasn’t aware yet that I had—but at a young age, how could we have known? Just starting our ‘blunder’ stage of life. Thousands of people help others every day, invest time in us as we grow, they are integral to who we become. Hopefully, you also pay this forward as you grow and mature in any vocation.
I found as I grew, I spent enormous energy helping others learn, opening their eyes, gaining knowledge to better themselves. Aside from running the corporations we founded and successfully operated, I have lectured at universities in how to better find opportunity. The most gratifying moments in my life is helping people help themselves. It is never a handout, but a hand-up as those who improve their lives are far better off when they invest in themselves; as they realize that there is opportunity they themselves can benefit from.
For over 35 years a file has been kept with stories, quotes and lessons. The goal of this book is to broaden the reach of these resources and help you improve your work-life and speed-up your success.
Introduction
Opportunities are in Front of you Every Day
Every day, all over the world, people like you and I see opportunities and start their own businesses. They come from all walks of life, and they live in all types of places. Today, there are more opportunities to own your own business than any other time in history. Advancing technology adds even more opportunity, and businesses can be started with low capital, even from the comfort of your own home.
The world’s largest retailer, Amazon, was started in a garage. You can start your own business in your spare time, or work at it part-time while you are still at another job. The market and ideas you have can be tested before you invest too much money or time.
Millions of people around the world have taken the plunge, so why not you? Is it easy? Absolutely not! Is there risk involved? You better believe it. Will every business launched succeed? No. Most new business ventures fail. But is it worth it?
Without a shadow of a doubt.
As you read on, keep in mind that there are millions of very successful people, just like you and I, who did not start their own businesses and were very successful working for someone else. They saw opportunities to enhance their careers right where they were. Consider where you are working now. Many opportunities are being missed that can lead to greater success where you work now. By reading this book, you will, hopefully, start to see and act upon previously unseen opportunities that are all around you. It does not matter if the opportunities are where you work now, or if you start a business around your ideas. This book will share many examples of what people recognized as an opportunity, and why (and how) they acted on it.
Most new businesses that fail do so in the first few years, for many reasons. Why a business either succeeds or fails is often a result of a person’s individual vision, skills, self-discipline, motivation, knowledge, and tireless efforts. Success is not easy. It makes no difference if you own the business or are working for someone else; you alone can make the choice to succeed and make it happen.
All throughout this book, you will read stories of success. There are some told of very famous people, and other stories of people you have probably never heard of. However, all the examples have a common thread: people just like you and I visualized an opportunity and then acted on it.
Success is not dependent upon your level of education. I had started our first corporation at the age of 26, and was a multi-millionaire well before age 30. I went back to school and completed my Master’s of Business Administration at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business many years after starting more than one business from scratch. I did learn I would have been more successful had I obtained the MBA prior to starting the businesses, but fortunately, the businesses were still a success. I was also very pleased to learn we had been doing many things exceedingly well.
So, why do I share this? Well, thousands of successful companies have been founded by people without a college education, advanced degrees, or a large amount of money. Our success, in large measure, and that of thousands of others, was in our ability to visualize what a customer really needed and training our employees to do the same. We developed the habits to see opportunity when it presented itself, while others missed it. Opportunity can come in thousands of different ways, but if you are not looking for it, it will be missed. Opportunity can be disguised as an obstacle, but when you face it head-on, in most cases, you will discover new paths to success. But, again, this is only true if you are looking for it.
Our minds are such powerful tools. There are millions of things we might be looking at, but not really seeing what they are or what they could be. What is important is asking why what you see is the way it is.
Highly-educated executives in Fortune 500 firms (or any business for that matter) such as Boeing, United Parcel Service, and PACCAR missed or failed to recognize what could be because they were focused on what they thought they knew. Because I asked why, I was able to create tremendous new opportunities for success in business. You will read these win-win stories and learn how you can apply this strategy to your own life.
Many times, totally by chance, you will see opportunity and simply fail to follow up. Then the opportunity is wasted. Once you start to see any situation differently, with eyes open to change, you can make a significant difference in your life and the lives of others. If you fail, you can use that failure to power yourself ahead. Use failure as a lesson to build on. I failed many times in the companies I worked for or owned, but in the end, I founded and successfully ran large corporations that were eventually sold to Fortune 500 firms.
We are all familiar with companies like Microsoft, Starbucks, and Amazon. While these are now giant companies that are known all