Why persistence will pay in 2012: Kogan

As you head into the holiday season, you will hopefully have some time to reflect on your year in business, and the year ahead.

When planning for success in 2012, don’t forget one important factor for success: persistence.

It is important for entrepreneurs to not get discouraged if an idea fails or if a venture doesn’t go ahead.

It may take hundreds of great ideas before you have one that works. Turning ideas into businesses usually involves convincing others that your idea is great.

This isn’t easy. Very few people will be able to see your vision. Henry Ford said: “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have said ‘a faster horse’.”

In May 2006 I approached McDonald’s Australia and suggested that they need to replace all of their menu boards with digital LCD screens.

I explained how this would have huge advantages and cost savings.

It would allow head office to control all advertising with ease, they could roll out nationwide campaigns with the click of a button, they could have animations in their advertising, they could implement menu changes with ease, they would no longer have to print advertising boards.

Just the savings from not having to do huge print runs each time a new menu item was created justified the entire project.

I offered to run the nationwide project for McDonald’s at cost price – I did not care for the profit, just seeing the concept succeed was enough for me. McDonald’s knocked me back.

They did not share my vision. Now I’ve noticed many McDonald’s have actually started doing this, and are finally transitioning many of their stores to digital screens (five years later).

In August 2006 I approached every major car rental company (Avis, Budget, Thrifty, et al) in Australia and offered them Kogan GPS devices at the best price available anywhere in the world.

I explained that they should have these as an optional extra with every car they rent.

This article first appeared on StartupSmart.