Nine life lessons distilled from 770 blog posts

I was recently asked as part of an awards process to outline the lessons I have learned from starting my own business in 2001. I then referred to my blog to find out that of the 770 blog posts I have written – 164 of the posts have been dedicated to ‘Lessons Learned’.

These are my own originals – but I add four from the famous below. Then I set about trying to summarize, and I thought there might be some value to the SmartCompany community in what I distilled:

1. Persistence is not pigheadedness.

2. Passion is authentic – you either love what you do every day … or you don’t.

3. People are everything to success (family, friends, community, colleagues) you cannot do it alone.

4. Process sets you free; it provides the foundations for growth.

5. ‘Hope’ is not a strategy.

6. Brands are held in the heart of the customer.

7. It is not about me. It is about the legacy I create well beyond my own generation – asking “Am I making the planet a better place over and over again?”

8. The more I teach, the more I learn.

9. We need to know failure to know success.

Which brings me to some of the great quotes used by my friend Amanda Gore in a presentation:

“I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that did not work.” Thomas Edison

“Remember that failure is an event not a person.” Zig Ziglar

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

“Just because you fail at one thing doesn’t mean you will fail at everything.” Marilyn Monroe

Naomi Simson has received many accolades and awards for the business she founded, RedBalloon.com.au, including the 2011 Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year – Industry.