Lesson #4: Have Your Own Definition of Success
Lesson #4: Have Your Own Definition of Success
At the time, Huizenga was speaking in defense of his lavish golf course, which the serial entrepreneur poured millions of dollars into. Spread over 300 acres, the course had two helicopter pads, two guest cottages, a marina, and a four-story clubhouse. “I gave my wife an unlimited budget on the clubhouse,” he said, “and she exceeded it.” Huizenga even resorted to rerouting a road himself that he felt was distracting to golfers after the state refused to reroute it. On top of the money he spent on his golf course, Huizenga and his wife traveled all over the world and invited family and friends to join them on their lavish vacations.
Many thought Huizenga’s golf course, as well as his extravagant vacations, were wastes of his hard-earned fortune. They could not understand why this legend in the entrepreneurial world chose to seemingly throw his money down the drain, when he had worked so hard to acquire it in the first place. But Huizenga was never one to care what others thought. From how he defined success to how he built it and, finally, how he enjoyed it, Huizenga lived on his own terms.
Despite his vast wealth, Huizenga did not begin any of his ventures with money in mind. Huizenga was an entrepreneur, bottom line. He enjoyed the thrill and feeling that came with starting up his own business and seeing it prosper. “Overcoming hardships and working around and through their obstacles to achieve an education is what I call a true success,” he says.
Huizenga’s education was a hard one to be sure, which made his success all the more rewarding. His parents’ divorce at a young age was a traumatic experience for Huizenga, but he did not let that impede him. Coming from a broken home, Huizenga made the most of what he had – ambition, determination, and guts.
Success, according to Huizenga, was also about those he chose to surround himself by. “People are what determine your success in the future,” he said. “Surround yourself with good people and you won’t fail.”
Huizenga worked hard to achieve success, his version of success. When he achieved it, he was not afraid to enjoy it. Whether that meant flying his friends around the world on a ten-day vacation, or plunging his savings into a golf course, Huizenga’s attitude towards his wealth was the same as his attitude towards business: do things how you want and you will be rewarded, in turn, how you want.
“I really would not change anything,” Huizenga says of his long and prosperous career. “Have a passion for what you do, work hard, have great people with good personalities, enjoy the ride,” says Huizenga. Do this, and anyone can achieve the same things he did.
Lesson 4 Have Your Own Definition of Success
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“I busted my butt all my life building companies,” Huizenga once said. “I have a friend who’s my age, and the last thing we say when we hang up is QTR – quality time remaining. I don’t know how many years I’ll be able to play golf, so I’m going to enjoy every minutes of this.”
At the time, Huizenga was speaking in defense of his lavish golf course, which the serial entrepreneur poured millions of dollars into. Spread over 300 acres, the course had two helicopter pads, two guest cottages, a marina, and a four-story clubhouse. “I gave my wife an unlimited budget on the clubhouse,” he said, “and she exceeded it.” Huizenga even resorted to rerouting a road himself that he felt was distracting to golfers after the state refused to reroute it. On top of the money he spent on his golf course, Huizenga and his wife traveled all over the world and invited family and friends to join them on their lavish vacations.
Many thought Huizenga’s golf course, as well as his extravagant vacations, were wastes of his hard-earned fortune. They could not understand why this legend in the entrepreneurial world chose to seemingly throw his money down the drain, when he had worked so hard to acquire it in the first place. But Huizenga was never one to care what others thought. From how he defined success to how he built it and, finally, how he enjoyed it, Huizenga lived on his own terms.
Despite his vast wealth, Huizenga did not begin any of his ventures with money in mind. Huizenga was an entrepreneur, bottom line. He enjoyed the thrill and feeling that came with starting up his own business and seeing it prosper. “Overcoming hardships and working around and through their obstacles to achieve an education is what I call a true success,” he says.
Huizenga’s education was a hard one to be sure, which made his success all the more rewarding. His parents’ divorce at a young age was a traumatic experience for Huizenga, but he did not let that impede him. Coming from a broken home, Huizenga made the most of what he had – ambition, determination, and guts.
Success, according to Huizenga, was also about those he chose to surround himself by. “People are what determine your success in the future,” he said. “Surround yourself with good people and you won’t fail.”
Huizenga worked hard to achieve success, his version of success. When he achieved it, he was not afraid to enjoy it. Whether that meant flying his friends around the world on a ten-day vacation, or plunging his savings into a golf course, Huizenga’s attitude towards his wealth was the same as his attitude towards business: do things how you want and you will be rewarded, in turn, how you want.
“I really would not change anything,” Huizenga says of his long and prosperous career. “Have a passion for what you do, work hard, have great people with good personalities, enjoy the ride,” says Huizenga. Do this, and anyone can achieve the same things he did.
Lesson 4 Have Your Own Definition of Success
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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