Home Features Mastermind Videos About Advertise Blog Network Contact
   

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

Featured Ebook


ebook Famous Entrepreneurs - Modern Empire Builders


Featured Ebook

More Evan Carmichael
Have A Suggestion?

Sales Lessons From Starbucks And Dell

Lesson #1: Success Doesn’t Happen Overnight



  Articles
Lesson #1: Success Doesn’t Happen Overnight
   

“I think a lot of people, friends included, were saying, ‘I know you're a believer in this and all, but you know, sometimes no matter how hard you believe it just doesn't happen. Maybe you should kind of give up the ghost and try something else,’” recalls Case. While he can look back on the early stages of his career now and laugh, at the time, it was no laughing matter. Case was struggling to become a success, to find his niche and to make a name for himself in an industry in which he saw limitless potential. “I just believed, and so I kept doing it…we're going to make this happen. We were going to stick with it.”

Case attained the level of success that he did because he believed in his dreams beyond all reason. When colleagues told him he was crazy, when industry analysts said he was impractical and when his family advised him to go into a more ‘secure’ career such as law, Case followed his heart. “I think because there were some challenges I just redoubled my own commitments,” he says. “We wanted to stay in the game.”

When he first got started in the late 1970s, and first began thinking about the potential of the online and interactive world, Case thought his vision would be realized immediately. “I believed so fervently that it was the next big thing, I thought it would happen quickly,” says Case. “What happened then has been 10 or 15 years just slogging away at this, and there were many times where it wasn't clear at all it was going to ever happen.” Despite the challenges he faced and the lengthy period of time it took for him to achieve success, Case never gave up.

“I was overestimating the pace at which it would happen early on, and then, mostly because I was a believer, was sort of underestimating exactly when it would happen,” says Case. “It almost never happens overnight, so then there's a period of reflection and disappointment. Sometimes even depression, where someone says, ‘Oh, it's never going to happen!’ and then suddenly the pieces start falling together, and then it takes off and really hits a tipping point where you see the real explosive growth.”

Case attributes his ability to withstand the shocks to his career not only to his own desire to succeed, but also to all the people he had working alongside him. “The team that we built at AOL shared the passion about this new medium and that we really were pioneers in building something,” he says. “And what was fun about it is nobody knew what to do and you kind of had to make it up as you go, and that means you're going to make mistakes, and you've got to keep picking yourself up off the floor and keep going.”

Despite having abundant opportunities around them, Case feels that many entrepreneurs lack the nerve to really take advantage of them. “It's actually a relatively small number of people that really are those risk takers, and a relatively small number of people that end up really having an impact on the world, and it doesn't take a lot of people,” he says. “We said, ‘Well, rather than just sit by and wait, or fold our tent and go do something else, let's keep at it. Maybe we can be the ones who can figure this out,’ and eventually we were.”



Lesson #1: Success Doesn’t Happen Overnight

Like this article? Share it with your friends
[Get Copyright Permissions] E-Mail | Print | Post | Republish | More  


Related Articles Related Articles
Overnight success?
  What's the opposite of that? An Overnight failure?
Are You Writing Your Book for the Wrong Reasons?
  Have you been struggling to finish your book? If you’ve been working on the project for what seems like forever, and made little or no progress, you might need to reconsider your motive for taking on the project in ...
My Advice for Other African Startups
  Work hard and be patient- a successful, sustainable business will not happen overnight. Quality control is vital. Establish benchmark standards and never compromise them.
How to Succeed at Everything that Matters
  Everybody wants to succeed. Success, though, rarely comes easy. Nor does it happen overnight. We often hear about overnight success stories, certain companies or individuals thrown into the limelight, having mad...
Making Money From Home Online Isnt As Easy As Turning On A Computer
  Finding an online business to help you in making money from home will not make your rich overnight. It takes work and effort like any other business opportunity.

Related Forum Posts Related Forum Posts
Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods
Re: Women entrepreneur millionaires Re: Women entrepreneur millionaires
Re: Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods Re: Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods
Over 100 Articles Over 100 Articles
Blogging Frequency Blogging Frequency
You're Right Chris You're Right Chris
All My Sites Have Blogs All My Sites Have Blogs
Re: I stopped coming to evancarmichael.com forums because... Re: I stopped coming to evancarmichael.com forums because...

 
Famous Entrepreneur Video
Steve Case Video - Charlene Hunter Gault of PBS's The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour introduces America Online and interviews AOL CEO Steve Case. Case discusses the new popularity of online services, niche content, the "right to connect," and the future wired world.
Become An Author

Steve Case Picture Steve Case Newsletter
Get our free newsletter to learn more about Steve Case and other famous entrepreneurs!

Email:
Name: