Entrepreneurial Secrets: Persistence pays
May 16, 2017
By Jerry Bellune
Are you willing to take ‘no’ for an answer?
Some times it’s the smart thing to do.
As David Sandler taught sales students about buyers:
“Some will. Some won’t. Who’s next?”
Persistence means finding those who will buy.
Truly Nolen was one of those persistent types.
Even his name was unusual: Truly Nolen.
Nolen milked the novelty for all it was worth.
He named a son Really and a daughter Sincere Leigh.
What made Truly Nolen truly remarkable?
He had to fight back from polio when he was young.
Partially paralyzed, he wasn’t expected to live.
He progressed from a wheelchair to crutches.
On crutches, he took a door-to-door sales job.
He sold storm windows and Christmas-tree ornaments.
The job was “the best education anyone can get.”
Slamming doors taught him to handle rejection.
He was a daredevil who took up sailing and diving.
He delivered newspapers to buy a sailboat.
He failed at starting a boat-chartering business.
He returned to Ohio, to finish high school.
Then he tried working for his hard-working dad.
But the two had incompatible ideas about business.
“He was not open to my ideas,” he said.
In 1955, he founded Truly Nolen Pest Control.
He sought hard workers for long hours, and low pay.
He hired the only person who applied.
But hard work paid off in other applicants.
He expanded into 15 states and 60 countries.
He thought he couldn’t afford advertising at first.
So he bought and parked old cars in high traffic areas.
He painted his name and phone number on them.
After his death his daughter Sincere Leigh said:
“I admire the magic you carried around with you.”
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©2017 The Bellune Company, Inc
Neither MidlandsBiz.com nor The Bellune Company, Inc. makes any warranty as to the results that may be achieved from using this information. ©2015 The Bellune Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Requests for permission to reprint or circulate may be obtained by emailing [email protected]
