3 Incredible Times Elon Musk Failed and Still Came out on Top
Much to the concern of Tesla’s shareholders and board members, Elon Musk somehow manages to top headlines nearly every week for both the big risks he takes, and for his epic failures. Whether it’s due to the 120 hour work weeks, or the chronic lack of sleep that he has admitted to, it seems like the billionaire entrepreneur keeps making reckless moves and having fun at everyone else’s expense. If that’s the case, then how does he always seem to end up on top? A high risk tolerance and an embracing attitude toward failure are key personality traits for any aspiring entrepreneur, so let’s examine a few of the many seemingly career ending failures that this eccentric entrepreneur was able to overcome against all odds by focusing on what’s next, instead of dwelling on the failure itself. Nearly Going Bankrupt After selling PayPal to eBay in 2002 for a reported $1.5B, which netted Elon Musk about $165 million as one of the company’s co-founders, he began searching for new business ideas and decided that he wanted his next business to solve more important issues than simply how we make payments online. That’s why he focused his efforts on clean energy and space travel. In a bet that most people would find astonishing, he took $100 million of his own money and started the rocket company SpaceX. Within just 2 years, he had also invested another $70 million into a little known electric car company, Tesla, eventually buying it outright. Four years after his sale of PayPal, he used some of his own money as well as assets from Tesla to invest another $90 million into the solar company started by one of his cousins, SolarCity. Along the way he nearly went bankrupt and went hundreds of millions into debt, borrowing money from billionaire friends and taking loans from banks, just to cover expenses while working tirelessly to keep the value of his companies from collapsing to zero. All three companies are now household names because of the years of big bets, hard work, and relentless focus that the entrepreneur has maintained. In the end, it was his unwavering belief in his bigger mission, and his willingness to give up everything else, including his personal life, that ended up ensuring the success of these ventures. Negotiating With Russians Musk’s interest in space started when he was just a child, so to those who knew him well, the idea of starting a rocket company wasn’t all that crazy. But to everyone else, it seemed he had lost his mind. When he couldn’t find affordable rocket suppliers in the United States, he decided to go to Russia and negotiate a deal to purchase cheaper, refurbished rockets from the government. After negotiating with the Russians over three trips to the country, he and his team were literally laughed out of the room when he brought $21 million in cash to pay for 3 rockets, only to find out that the Russians were taunting him and actually planned to sell him only one for this price. Many people would throw in the towel after such a defeat, but on the flight back to the United States Elon said to his partners, “screw it, how hard can it be to build a rocket?” After reading every book he could find to become an expert in rocketry, spending many millions more on failed launch after failed launch, in September of 2008 SpaceX successfully launched its first reusable rocket, forever changing the industry. Elon himself has said: “when something is important enough, it’s worth trying even if the risk of failure is really high.” As long as you keep learning from every mistake, if you keep trying, you’re bound to get it right at least once. Getting Sued By The SEC In August, Musk made headlines when he announced his plans to take Tesla private saying that “funding is secured.” It’s difficult to guess why he would make such a statement so publicly on Twitter, perhaps he really believed that taking the company private was the best option, or maybe he wanted to encourage the investors he was courting to make their decision faster, but now we know that the bet he made did not pay off. The SEC, the regulating body that’s charged with protecting public investor interests, took his statement as an attempt to manipulate Tesla’s stock price and began proceedings for a lawsuit that would have been detrimental to the business and to Musk’s future as the company’s head. But just a few weeks later, after what was likely a series of negotiations, the SEC settled with Elon Musk and Tesla, and he got away with paying a fee and Tesla made the symbolic move of removing Musk as a Chairman of Tesla. In the settlement he still got to keep his job as CEO. Was this recent move and the many huge risks that Musk has taken throughout his life worth it? Most of us would never consider taking on giants like the Russian government or the Securities and Exchange commission. But for leaders like Elon Musk who are attempting to reinvent entire industries and create technologies that our world has never seen, constant failure is just a part of the game. It’s something they’ve accepted as their reality a long time ago. There’s a valuable lesson here for the rest of us. If you’re someone who has big ambitions and wants to leave a mark on this world, the faster you get comfortable with the inevitable failures that you’ll face along the way, the easier it will be to get back up and keep moving forward.
Why Working Hard Is Not Enough to Succeed - And What to Do Instead
If everyone only listened to Gary Vee and worked as hard as possible, we would end up with a generation of incredibly disappointed people with broken relationships and empty bank accounts. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of people like Gary Vee, Tony Robbins, and many other inspiring personalities who motivate many people by giving them that much needed push to get back to work. But success is about so much more than hard work, and it's crucial to take into account the other factors and traits you need to develop to succeed.1. Risk-taking abilityHustle doesn’t just mean putting in 100-hour weeks to get what you want. It means doing the bold things most people are afraid to do. Behind every hustle story of a founder who closed a major deal with a multinational conglomerate, or raised $10 million from an all-star list of investors, is a thousand other stories of personal and professional risks they took to get there. Founders need to learn how to remove self-doubt and take chances every day.Simple micro-actions that are the easiest to talk yourself out of doing can have a big impact. Perhaps that means sitting near the stage when a sought-after speaker at a conference is done speaking so that you can be the first to approach them when they get off the stage, like 18 year old Bobby Thakkar did. Or begging your supplier to let you pay them a few days later so you have time to get paid by your own customer first because otherwise you’ll be in the red. Ask yourself, am I willing to put my pride and reputation on the line in order to make my business succeed? 2. OptimismAnyone who has ever started a company will admit that you have to be a little crazy to give up a steady paycheck and trade it for an uncertain life as an entrepreneur. But I think that doesn’t tell the full story. It’s not just that most founders are crazy enough to take big risks, it’s that they have the confidence, and the unyielding optimism required to bring an idea to fruition, and most importantly the persistence to keep going when things get hard.Most people want to give up when their ideas fail, but entrepreneurs know that as long as they keep trying new things, eventually something will work. That means you don’t blindly keep executing on the same things over and over again until you get results, but you adjust course and keep your mind open to new ideas and admit when something simply won’t work.When Olga Nesterova was commissioned by the WNBA to have her dance troupe perform at their halftime show at Madison Square Garden, but just two weeks away from the show the organizer said they might back out of the agreement because they didn’t like some aspect of the choreography she put together, she didn’t fold her arms and pass up the opportunity. She took her belief in herself and used that optimism to double down on making the performance happen. She called the organizer back and explained that with just two weeks until showtime she needed a firm commitment on whether her troupe would get to perform, and assured her that they would fix the choreography in time. In the end, she got her chance and now does WNBA and NBA halftime shows on a regular basis.3. CommunicationWorking hard on your ideas won’t get you very far if you don’t have the ability to communicate your vision to your cofounders, customers, investors, and employees. Not everyone has to be a natural visionary like Steve Jobs to get people behind their ideas, but you need to get comfortable with selling yourself and your ideas on a daily basis.Even if you’ll never be a master orator and you find a business partner who can be the face of the company for you, you still need to be able to communicate effectively with that partner and with your team to make expectations clear. The best entrepreneurs understand the value of this, and they get very good at over-communicating and consistently setting expectations with their team so that nothing falls through the cracks.Chef Jeff was willing to re-learn how to communicate effectively when he decided to become a chef after serving 10 years in prison for dealing drugs. He literally changed the way he talked and walked so that he was more approachable to people in the industry and so that his peers would take him seriously.Are you willing to change how you communicate to fit your business and industry?4. Self-awarenessHaving unwavering confidence in yourself and your abilities as an entrepreneur is certainly one component of success, but if it blinds you to your weaknesses then you may not get very far. The best leaders are willing to admit when they have a weakness, and are more than happy to hire people who are more competent than them in certain areas in order to grow their business. Every business owner inevitably faces situations that they don’t know how to navigate, and only self-aware people have the confidence to ask for help from their investors, employees, or even spouses when they have their back against the wall. Advisors are a great way to supplement the gaps in your own skills, and most successful founders acquire many advisors during the lifetime of their company.In his book “How To Get Rich” Felix Dennis, the founder of Dennis Publishing which is known for magazines like Maxim and Men’s Fitness, wrote that in order to make money you will inevitably need to give something up. Be it vacations, time with family, or time on other hobbies and creative interests. But before you follow the mantra that hard work will always pay off, consider the other important skills you’ll have to develop in order to succeed as an entrepreneur. Perhaps more importantly, consider what’s important to you beyond just money and glory, because success is never guaranteed, and you might as well have fun if you’re going to be working so hard.
4 Steps to Finding a Dream Job that Actually Makes You Happy
If doing what you love every day while getting paid for it is the ultimate career dream, then why do so many of us give up on that dream when we become adults? Some may say that work is work, and that getting your dream job is just that, a pipe dream, but I have to respectfully disagree. If you have the necessary patience, coupled with a bit of persistence, there are steps you can take to get the dream job that you’ve always wanted. 1. Know what you want It’s not enough to have a general idea of what you want to do. Sure, when you enter a new industry, you might not know enough about it to make a definitive decision about where you want to be in 5, 10, or 20 years. But once you’ve started to familiarize yourself with how a sector works, you need to decide how you will contribute to it so that you can start executing on some sort of plan. The best place to start is to focus on the things that you think you’re good at. If you work on developing a skill that you’re already naturally disposed to, it gives you the confidence to keep trying new things, and to make mistakes. That’s the first step to truly mastering something, and to making a successful career out of it. 2. Build relationships with people who do what you want to do The fastest way to learn something is to talk to 10 experts on the topic. So it follows that the best way to learn about what it takes to build a successful career is to talk to the people who got where you want to be. There are many people who are happy to take the time and talk to someone who asks for their help, especially if they’re just a few years ahead of you and remember what it was like to be in your shoes. Some people might not be willing to talk to you, and that’s okay. It’s still worth it to reach out to people who may understand the dynamics of your industry, and the power players that you need to follow. 3. Provide value to people while building on your skills Getting introduced to people who can give you advice is great, but if you want to accelerate your career, you have to continue to provide value to the people who have helped you on your path. But what do people really mean when they say, add value to others ? One example is being open to using your own network for someone else’s benefit. Even if your network isn’t very big yet, you know people with skills or knowledge that someone else does not have. So whenever you meet someone new at an event that you want to maintain a relationship with, think about one or two people in your own network that might be relevant for that person to talk to. Even if it’s simply to share some expertise. Once you make an introduction, that person will see you as a connector and they will be more likely to remember you if you reach out to them asking for help down the line. A simple way to add value to someone you want to build a relationship with is sharing information, even just an article, about a topic you know they care about. You don’t need to do this all the time, but just keep in touch. The purpose of adding value is to give something before you ask for something. When you’re ready to switch your career or pursue a sought-after job that fits your skillset, ask for introductions to the leaders in the organization, rather than simply applying on a job board and hoping for a response. The person on the receiving end is much more likely to make an introduction on your behalf if they trust you’re a thoughtful person who will make a good impression and reflect well on them. If you only met them at an event once and never followed up, then there’s no reason for them to trust you because they don’t have enough information about how you operate. 4. Find a target and pursue it relentlessly Without step one -- knowing what you want -- it’s impossible to have the focus and intention required to pursue anything that’s truly worthwhile. Once you know what you want, and you know who the “movers” in the industry are, it becomes much easier to know how to channel your persistence. The best advice I ever received about how to get your dream job is to show the organization what it will be like to work with you. In other words, show them the output of your work before you’re even hired. You won’t want to do this for every job you pursue, but the effort is worthwhile for the ones you truly want. Let’s say that you’ve used every networking trick in the book, and were able to actually get the attention of an important person in the industry who can offer you the job you’ve been dreaming of. Take this as your chance to stand out from everyone else. Talk to someone in the company and find out what critical problems they’re trying to solve, and try solving one of them. If they’re too complicated to solve quickly, send some insightful suggestions and explain how you would go about solving the issues yourself to prove that you can do it. The best example I heard of someone doing this was a young person who wanted to get a job at a tech startup he loved. The company needed a sales and business development person to get small businesses to buy their technology. He spent time researching potential prospects for the startups, and he simply reached out to them and asked if they would ever use the product. He didn't sell anything, he just wanted to assess whether he could actually get a small business interested. After getting 10 companies to say they were interested, he went back to the startup and showed them the list of 10 potential clients he could bring them tomorrow. It was enough to prove to the startup that he had the skills to do the job. Doing what you love is a goal we take for granted as children, but it’s also a dream that many people give up on once they start working and see how competitive any good opportunity really is. When something is competitive, by definition, the only way to have a shot at it is standing out in some way. So don’t just do what people expect you to do as you progress through your career. Be brave enough to prove yourself and ask questions when you need it, and eventually someone will listen.
Why It's Actually Better to Have No Money When Starting a Business
I was 29 years old, and it had been three months since I had to make the very difficult decision to leave my apartment and my life in New York City to move back in with my parents. Don’t get me wrong; I love my parents, and I couldn’t be more grateful to them for opening their home to my brother (and co-founder) and I to give us some time to figure things out. But this is not how I saw myself spending the last year of my 20s. Nonetheless, we refused to look for jobs because we still had faith that we would figure this entrepreneurship thing out. After all, we had a product and a revenue-generating business on our hands, it just so happened that the revenue was not high enough to cover all of our expenses, especially in a city as expensive as New York. As the months passed, my brother and I became more and more restless. The business just wasn’t growing fast enough, and it was getting increasingly more difficult to explain to my dates why I couldn’t invite them back to my place. Something had to give. A diamond formed out of pressure One day, my brother and I were sitting in a classroom at a local university that had become our de facto working space, when, out of sheer frustration, we wrote down a list of all the skills we had that we could teach to a group of people, and started cold-calling companies to offer our “training” services. Most of them politely declined. One of the skills on our list was soft-skills training, and we thought that engineering teams could use this type of coaching. We spent hours crafting the perfect email, and after emailing about 40 people, we managed to schedule 10 meetings and phone calls in NYC, Denver, Chicago and Honolulu in just one week, and about two weeks after that we had our first contract signed to teach a soft-skills training workshop in Denver. The pay check was just enough to let us move back to NYC at least for a few months while we figured out how to grow this new business. Could have nothing to lose be a factor for success? There are countless examples of other entrepreneurs who went from having nothing to running incredibly successful enterprises, like Oprah Winfrey, John Paul DeJoria, and Daymond John, whose book The Power of Broke chronicles many similar stories. So what is it that these people all have in common, aside from their unfortunate early circumstances? It's the same thing I had when I was living at home and desperately trying to get out; the ability to act without fear when you have your back against the wall. When you have nothing to lose, all the normal fears that occupy your mind and prevent you from acting on your entrepreneurial impulses go right out the window. They simply cease to matter because your objective is so clear in your mind. Another benefit of having no money to throw at your business is that the business will only succeed by its own merit. Since you don’t have any money to invest in advertising or in buying leads, you can only get customers by having a product that’s truly needed. That’s why my brother and I were able to get meetings so quickly once we came up with the right business idea. Other companies invest tons of money in advertising, and barely make enough revenue to cover their costs. But they fall into the trap of a false sense of accomplishment when they see sales come through the door, when in reality there’s no real growth opportunity for the business. Finally, having no money forces you to be creative. When Daymond John started FUBU, he had no money to pay for clothing promoters, so he relentlessly chased down his neighbor LL Cool J until the guy agreed to wear the little-known brand in a music video. This effectively served as free advertising to the community that Daymond was trying to tap into, and it put his company into the spotlight. So if you happen to be in the unfortunate situation of not having much money when starting your business, don’t despair. You might have more of an advantage over your competition than you think.
