Perseverance: Failure Repellant

World renown Hollywood producer, Jerry Weintraub, became a millionaire with equal parts savvy and perseverance. In fact, thhe exact moment he became a multi-millionaire came with a single stroke of Elvis Presley’s manager’s cane through a chest high pile of cash. Half was Jerry’s and the other half went to Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis. This multimillion dollar “transaction” came in San Diego at the tail end of Elvis’ nationwide tour.

Jerry Weintaub, a virtual no body at the time, earned the unthinkable honor of taking the world’s most powerful musical act on tour after pestering Colonel Tom Parker by phone every morning for nearly a year. His first call to Colonel Tom Parker including a “Hello,” an introduction, and a request, “I’d like to take Elvis on tour..”

“No.”

Every morning for a year, Jerry dialed up Colonel Tom Parker to hear, “No.” Except, one morning he answered his phone only to hear the roles reversed. “Jerry, this is Colonel Tom Parker. Do you still want to do the tour with Elvis?”

Now I wonder, is the only difference between an abandon venture and a successful one simply perseverance? I don’t know the answer to that but I do know that the question can only be answered with a guess. No one can say for certain that if one didn’t quit that his/her effort still would have failed because, after all, they’d still be trying. The definitive characteristic of a failed attempt is in the quitting, until then it’s a venture in progress.

Think about it.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach