What Can You Learn From Jimmy Valvano For Your Unique Business Opportunity?
This 1993 ESPY speech took place March 4th when Jimmy Valvano was presented with the inaugural Arthur Ashe award. He past away less than two months later after fighting cancer for nearly a year.
Coach Jimmy Valvano or Jimmy “V” was well known at this time as a broadcaster and for his NCAA Basketball 1983 national championship with North Carolina State over highly favored Houston, 54-52. It was one of the most memorable upsets in college basketball history when Lorenzo Charles dunked in an air ball as time expired. If you are a sports fan you remember the shot and Coach V running around the floor looking for anyone to hug.
After this inspirational speech on March 4th his memory and legend transcended way beyond his mortal life heroics. So while this is a motivational talk, you might be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with my unique business opportunity?” Well the answer is simply…everything.
No matter what type of business endeavor you are running there are some monumental points that he brings up that will apply to everyone not just as a business owner, but also as a person. Let’s break them down a little further.
3 Things We Should Do Every Day…
1. Laugh
When anyone starts a business, chances are it doesn’t go as smoothly as possible and there will be hiccups that happen daily. Remember Jimmy V’s story about three things and three things only: your family, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers! How many times have you gone into a business meeting or got on a sales call and botched it?
I remember one of the first sales calls I ever had in my life and I was so nervous that I was about to ask for medical checkup on my blood pressure. I had scripted notes to help me through the process and I clung on to every word as if they were the branches I was grasping onto for dear life as I hung off a cliff.
I had no idea how to sell or build posture! It was a true baptism by fire. One of my first sales calls I was on was this country boy that was really cranky. I mean the kind of cranky where his wife cheated on him, dog died, and the car blew up.
My hands were shaking as I was trying to hold the script. It made it harder for me to read the words, like it had a built in vibrator in the pages. He could tell right away I was reading from a script and called me out on it.
I panicked. I probably had the same look on my face as when I peed my pants in third grade. What should I do?
I decided that I lost the sale any ways and just tell him the truth. I said, “Yes sir. I am new and don’t know what I am doing here, but I will try to help you out as best I can.”
He responded with a laugh. I thought it was over and I should just hang up the phone. He said, “Well that is fine son. I am glad you are honest. Keep going…”
I did and that gentlemen spent nearly $7,000 that day.
Laughter and honesty go hand in hand and benefit both you and your customer. It shows your customer that you are real and it will release the tension and fear that normally exists in a business relationship. Chances are that every customer you desire to duplicate, you have had at least one good laugh with them.
The more fun you have with people the better your brand will be because they will associate laughter and joy with your business. You want that right? No matter how good your product is, the experience you provide is priceless.
2. Think
Thinking is so vital to your business progress. That seems like a duh statement. But let’s be honest, you remember the countless times where you feel cheated or not important in a business deal and you ask yourself “What is that vendor thinking?” The answer is not much…
If you have an unique business you are probably going to have to market your product in ways that others may not have gone and get inside the mind of what your customer really wants. You are going to have to use that unique selling point and find the hot button with your customer that will work time after time.
Jimmy V mentions that you should, “Remember where you started, where you are, and where are you going to be.”
We forget at times what we have accomplished in business and often focus only on the negatives. Do you ever find that you are extremely excited about a business transaction or some type of progress, but you never go back and evaluate what happened? I do this often.
Take time to sit down and look at your success. How did you reach people? What did you provide them with that inspired them to take that next step? Why did your employee or a system you established work so well and how can you duplicate that?
I personally take time daily to evaluate my successes and failures. This isn’t just in work, but in life. Type them up on your computer, put them on a white board, or even write them on a sheet of paper. You will often find that although you are not doing anything wrong, you are not as productive as you can be.
You might have heard of the Pareto Law of 80/20. It states that only 20% of the work we perform accounts for 80% of our results. It is our goal to transition that 20% to a larger portion of your daily routine. This will maximize your results exponentially.
3. Cry
Jimmy V says, “If you can laugh, think, and cry that is a full day.” It is so important that you become emotional and passionate about your business. This is something that should be very special to you because this is your livelihood. This is one of the biggest opportunities you have to impact other people’s lives.
Now I don’t think this means that you need to be sobbing like a child, but emotions show through in many different ways for people and when you love something enough it will resonate with everyone around you and it becomes contagious.
Coach V mentioned, “You have to have an enthusiasm for life, a dream, a goal and you have to work for it…Enjoy your life and the precious moments you have. Be enthusiastic every day.”
I remember a boss that I worked with for a while and his positivity was like crack cocaine. I swear when he came into the room it would erupt. Guys would be flying off walls, jumping out windows, bombs would be exploding, clothes being ripped off, veins bursting, and anything imaginable. OK…not true, but you get the picture.
He had so much energy and while the company was poorly ran, he was the “glue” that kept it soaring. He inspired guys to fight for every dollar no matter how horrible the marketing was or how difficult the clients were.
Now I am personally of the opinion that you can’t have “cry” without “think”. They go hand in hand. People have to see logically and emotionally, but he filled the emotion canteen to the top and somehow went back for more.
Get your hands dirty and let people see who are you. I think owners try to hard to put up a front. They get caught up in their status, cars, events, and all the bells and whistles when they should set the example as the humble servant for the greater good. The best owner is one who realizes that he can set aside the owner mantle, and become one piece in the huge system where each part is equally important.
“They got that screen up there flashing 30 seconds, like I care about that screen. I got tumors all over my body and I’m worried about some guy in the back going 30 seconds.”
Folks your life is short and don’t sweat the small stuff. We get so frustrated over stupid business transactions that didn’t work, products that malfunction, customer complaints, or employee liabilities. The truth is that your time in this life is finite and never allow a failure to control you. If you do then you are just purely wasting your time.
Remember when Gene Simmons talked about his new business opportunity failure and said, “In the real world, there is no failure because you are alive.”
I personally have come to understand I don’t deserve anything. All these things I feel I am entitled to can be taken away tomorrow. This is my one chance to make the most of it and give back.
Don’t Give Up, Don’t Ever Give Up…
It is amazing to think that the Jimmy V foundation has raised nearly $70 million for cancer research and will eventually help find the cure for cancer. Jimmy Valvano has left a legacy that is more than anything he could have done in his life will all of his great accomplishments.
What legacy will you leave? What will your business become for people and how will it improve their lives?
We get caught up in the daily routine, but we forget that there is a big picture worth taking a long look at. When we mold our mindset to living life to it’s fullest then it changes everything that we do with our business, our family, our faith, and other aspects of our lifestyles. Make the most of it and don’t give up, don’t ever give up.
This is as much your blog as it is mine and now the blog is yours.
Let me ask you what is your single most important question about a unique business opportunity?
What brought you to Write To Right?
What would you want to see more of on this site about unique business opportunities that would excite you, but you can’t find?
This is your chance to make this site better one comment at a time. Feel comfortable to express your inner feelings and don’t hold anything back!
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Filed Under General Money Making Business Opportunities, Self-actualization |
Tagged With business attitude, business endeavor, business meeting, business owner, ESPY Arthur Ashe award, find the hot button, Jimmy Valvano, market your product, Pareto Law of 80/20, sales call, unique business opportunity, unique seling point, what your customer really wants
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no, it isnt nice idea to cry every day…
at this time l do not have a comment but a question. how to get traffic to one’s website? thanks
I remember a boss that I worked with for a while and his positivity was like crack cocaine. I swear when he came into the room it would erupt. Guys would be flying off walls, jumping out windows, bombs would be exploding, clothes being ripped off, veins bursting, and anything imaginable. OK…not true, but you get the picture.
He had so much energy and while the company was poorly ran, he was the “glue” that kept it soaring. He inspired guys to fight for every dollar no matter how horrible the marketing was or how difficult the clients were.
Now I am personally of the opinion that you can’t have “cry” without “think”. They go hand in hand. People have to see logically and emotionally, but he filled the emotion canteen to the top and somehow went back for more.
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Nice article! This one really made me think for a second, that doens’t happen that often. I’ve also forwarded this article to some colleagues who were talking about it today. Thanks! Keep up the good work!
I was trying to hold the script. It made it harder for me to read the words, like it had a built in vibrator in the pages. He could tell right away I was reading from a script and called me out on it.
I’m sure these three things will work for a business owner, but they are also things that each person could benefit from doing every day. I remember seeing that game when I was only 10 years old. It inspired me to play basketball so much that I played in the driveway for hours the following day. Unfortunately I wanted to play like a superstar so bad that I rolled my ankle and spend the next month in a zoom ankle brace, lol… I did play in high school but not after than. Coach V’s story is a great one and his words are powerful to both business owners and everyday ordinary people.
Thinking, Honesty , and Laughter are the best way to keep business going, when you think, you never run out of ideas to better your service. Being honest never fails to win client’s trust, and laughter it brings all the good vibes into the business, keeps your disposition healthy.
That was right, you have to smile to have a brighter day to start, because if you don’t smile and your safe is as bad as a angry monkey, not only your day but the others or your mates will sure get mad too..so, keep on smiling. And when you smile, you can think of good ideas..I’m sure plenty of ideas will come. It’s true, crying can take away pain and bad moods, when you finish crying just take a deep breath and all will gone..so you can think much good ideas. thanks for posting it’s really nice.
I could tolerate to the first key point. I had my client laughing when I told him that I was so nervous. It was my first sales pitch and anxiety had hit me. It was a good thing that I managed to make him laugh. He decided to get a condo from me.
Laughter is indeed the best medicine. It helped make my sales pitch work. Anxiety can be a hindrance. What I did is that I got my clients laughing. The rest was history.