When an attorney, J. Jamail, was asked to represent Penzoil in court in the late 1980s, he agreed to barter his services for a percentage of the award if he won the case, instead of charging an hourly fee. He won the case again Texaco and when Penzoil was awarded $3 billion, Jamail earned about $420 million.
When we believe in ourselves and our abilities and we think about how we CAN accomplish something, instead of why we can’t, we realize that we don’t have money problems; we have thinking problems.
Be Creative – You ALREADY Have Everything You Need To Make It Work
Every resource your business needs is already available to you through someone else, be it:
- legal services
- space
- advertising
- labor
- distribution
- access
- reputation
- membership or skills.
There is no shortage – there is only abundance. I use a simple illustration in my seminars: I ask the audience to imagine a huge barrel of stinking garbage and rotting meat. I tell them there’s a million dollars at the bottom of the barrel and ask how many would dive into the barrel and climb under the rotting mess to get the money.
My point is this:
If you believe the money is there, you will climb into the putrid garbage and duck underneath it and search until you find the prize. But if you don’t believe it’s there, you won’t even try. You won’t pay the price if you don’t believe the award exists.
J. Jamail believed in himself, his skills and his client. He was confident and courageous. He created his success. There is a solution for every challenge and that solution is available through another person / business. Joint Ventures enable us to access everything we need and want, and, if we do it right, we can do it with no money or risk. We simply have to have the right mindset.
Why Most People Fail in Business
The reason why most people fail in business, in my opinion, is that:
- They try to do everything themselves and
- They give up to easily.
They very soon forget the million dollars at the bottom of the barrel and focus instead on the long hours, frustration, stink and work. A savvy Joint Venture broker might simply find someone with a long stick and agree to pay him a percentage of the prize for fishing the money out of the barrel, while he goes on to look for more opportunities, much like Penzoil did with Mr. Jamail.
Think HOW rather than IF
It’s not “IF I can do it”, but rather “How can I do it.” IF stands for Instant Failure. Paul J. Meyer encouraged us to “Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat.” He told us:
Crystallize your goals. Make a plan for achieving them and set yourself a deadline. Then, with supreme confidence, determination and disregard for obstacles and other people’s criticisms, carry out your plan.
Now THAT’s what I’m talking about! That’s the attitude that will tract winners to you. And, buy working together with optimists and achievers, we can accomplish amazing things.
