Lesson #3: Catch The Fever

“If you love your work, you’ll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you – like a fever,” said Walton.

Walton loved the world of retail. From the moment he left the army at the age of 27, Walton knew he wanted to be involved in the world of sales. And, he didn’t want to just own his own business, but he wanted to be the best. He had a vision; he wanted to provide people in the types of communities he had grown up in with the best possible bargain basement deals.

While his initial goal was to own a department store, he settled for a variety store and devoted himself wholeheartedly to making his store the most profitable Ben Franklin store in the region. As time passed and his company grew, Walton became increasingly devoted to improving his company. He began flying small planes throughout the rural South and Midwest in order to scout new sites for Wal-Marts. He also spent much of his time traveling throughout the U.S. doing field research. “I probably have traveled and walked into more variety stores than anybody in America,” said Walton. “I am just trying to get ideas, any kind of ideas that will help our company.”

Walton believed that passion and commitment were the two most important factors that enabled him to reach the heights of success that he did. Without those, he would have given up when his first business was literally taken away from him. “I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work,” he said. “I don’t know if you’re born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it.”

Part of having the passion for his business was Walton’s ability to stay the course even when others said it couldn’t be done. “Ignore the conventional wisdom,” he said. “If everybody else is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction.”. When he first began scouting for Wal-Mart locations, the business world did not take him seriously. Bigger competitors like K-Mart and Sears ignored his little shops in Arkansas, unwilling to see him as a legitimate threat.

Walton was focusing solely on rural America, which big businesses had largely ignored to that point, as they were unable to see a sizeable enough market for investment. “I guess in all my years, what I heard more often than anything was: A town of less than 50,000 population cannot support a discount store for very long,” he said. “Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.” Walton recognized the potential and stuck to his vision enough to see it through.



“I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time,” he once said. It was Walton’s passion alone that kept him fighting to become the retail giant that he is today.



Lesson #3: Catch The Fever

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