Success Stories | Bigg Success

Bill Rosenberg was nine-years old. He often tagged along to work with his dad, who owned a grocery store in Boston.

One hot summer day, Bill’s dad made the boy responsible for selling watermelons. If the nine-year old didn’t sell them, they would go bad.

Bill set up a stand in front of the store.

And he stood there. And stood there. And stood there.

People weren’t buying!

The young man wasn’t about to give up. His dad was counting on him.

But he realized that he needed to get creative. He thought about it. He looked around. He got an idea. Maybe this would work.

He repositioned his watermelon stand right by the streetcar stop. He barked out, “Bring a watermelon home! Surprise your family!”

More people saw his stand. They were impressed with the boy’s enthusiasm. Before long, all the watermelons were gone. Bill was a BIGG success!

What happened to Bill Rosenberg?

He went on to start Dunkin’ Donuts, a chain that sells over $5 billion of food and coffee through its nearly 9,000 stores.

Creativity is a critical skill in the new economy. Persistence has always been crucial. Put the two ingredients together and you have the recipe for BIGG success.

We all know the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again.”

The first solution often seems obvious. However, what do you do when it doesn’t work?

You have to come up with a second solution. That’s harder to do.

You have to get more creative. And you can’t give up.

Source: Time to Make the Donuts by William Rosenberg

Image in this post from FrenchByte

popcorn cart The banker had never seen an economy like this one. He had prospered for years. Happy times were here again! Life couldn’t be better …

… then it happened.

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn talk about popcorn on The Bigg Success Show! Click the player to listen [3:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The boom turned to bust.

The Roaring Twenties led into the Great Depression.

He had never seen an economy like this one.
The market crash created a wave of fear.
The customers of his bank rushed in.
He didn’t have the reserves to satisfy them.
His bank failed.

He failed.
He had lost everything.
His life was in complete shambles.
He had to find some way out of the hole he was in now.

The first necessary ingredient for BIGG success
There are five elements of BIGG success – money, time, growth, work and play. The banker didn’t have any money. He did have plenty of time on his hands.

And he had something even more important:

Hope

Hope that tomorrow would be better than today.
Hope that he could work out of the hole he was in.
Hope that he could get back some of what he had lost.

Hope is just an unpopped kernel
Hope isn’t good enough. It’s like an unpopped kernel of popcorn – necessary to the process but not usable. Pop it and it can be used for food. In some cultures, it’s also been used for adornment.

But just laying there – all by itself – it doesn’t do anybody any good. You have to blend it with the oil of belief. Then you have to put it over the heat of action. And give it some time.

Before long, a kernel will pop. Then another one. Then a bunch together. They will keep popping for a while.

Eventually, you have to remove the corn from the heat. Some kernels will remain unpopped – not every hope pops. Most hope does with belief, action and time.

An idea pops for the banker
During the heights of the Great Depression, the banker noticed something interesting:

People couldn’t afford many of the luxuries they had grown accustomed to during the Roaring Twenties …

… but everyone could afford popcorn!

There was another trend that the banker hoped to capitalize on:

Movies

In spite of predictions that no one would spend money on movies during bad times, it was a relatively inexpensive form of entertainment for the whole family.

They were also chic now because you could actually hear the actors talk!

A shop that pops
The banker bought a popcorn machine and set up shop in a small store close to a movie theater. Theaters didn’t sell popcorn back then.

But people wanted it. In fact, they would often sneak out of the theater to buy it.

The banker’s popcorn business thrived!

Within just a couple of years, he was able to buy back the farms he had lost. He was a BIGG success!

“Of course life is bizarre. The more bizarre it gets, the more interesting it is. The only way to approach it is to make yourself some popcorn and enjoy the show.” ~ Author unknown

Thanks to Popcorn.org for the story about the banker.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00619-081710.mp3

(Image in today's post by lumix2004)