A Lesson from the Past, with George

In his book "Shortcut for a Better Life," Ziad Rayess shares his experience of participating in international trade shows in France, Germany, and Dubai more than 25 years ago.

Even though the company put forth the effort to set up the booth, cover travel expenses, and exchange information with potential clients, they rarely ended up closing any real deals. Rayess later learned that succeeding in business is a game of numbers, and even a small percentage of closed deals can be considered a victory. In this article, we will examine how Rayess and his colleague's experiences illustrate the value of persistence, tenacity, and patience in achieving one's goals.

The Importance of Perseverance in Achieving Goals:

In his book "Shortcut for a Better Life", the writer "Ziad Rayess" mentions: More than 25 years ago, we wanted to participate in international trade shows in France, Germany, and Dubai and get a spot to advertise the company’s products (in the food field). The products carried our trademark, and we took it upon ourselves to prepare the stand and bear the travel expenses, miscellaneous costs, etc.

Many merchants and people from all over the world visited our stand, and we exchanged information and business cards, but after communicating with them electronically for a while, we rarely ended up getting any real deals with them.

Things continued this way for several years, even though we looked into it and made sure that the reason behind the lack of deals wasn’t the type, quality, or price of our goods. At one show, I had the opportunity to sit with the head of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, who had a very important brand and trade name with a worldwide presence. His name was George. I asked him about what was happening with us, and he said, “Look, you must note that it would be considered a success if you make a deal with one or two out of 100 people who come and negotiate.” As if a proportion of 2% comes up a lot in life!

I go to Cairo every now and then, and I’m often accompanied by the director of the group I work with. They have two garment factories there, and it’s well-known that they’ve been suffering losses for years. On one of these trips, I asked him, “Why have you kept going for so long while you’re constantly losing money?” He said, “There are 2,500 employees at these factories, and behind every one of them is an average of four family members. That means there are 10,000 people living off of the employees’ work. It’s enough for the overall results of the group to be positive. We want to continue striving for improvement, and it will benefit us in the end.”

Things stayed like this for years until these factories became successfully operational. Soon there were seven factories instead of two, and the owner became famous.

Finally, it seems that one principle of life is that there are very few chances to win, succeed, and reach your goals. But many factors can make it more likely, including trying again and again and being patient, determined, and persistent.

Conclusion:

As Rayess and his colleague's experiences demonstrate, persistence, tenacity, and patience are necessary for success in both business and personal life. It is not enough to try once or twice and then give up if the results are not immediate. Instead, we must be willing to try again and again, learning from our mistakes and adjusting our strategies as needed. Small victories, even if they are infrequent, can eventually lead to significant success. Our chances of success rise when we stay focused and keep working toward our goals.