I was listening to Tim Ferriss interview Peter Diamandis and so many inspirational tidbits were shared. Peter created the X Prize Foundation that offered a $10 million prize to entice private companies to build manned space ships that could go into space twice in two weeks. Peter didn’t have the prize money yet when he launched the bold initiative but he convinced 20 astronauts and the head of NASA to stand beside him on stage for the announcement. One hundred and fifty companies turned Peter down when he was trying to raise the prize money but Ansari finally said yes and the contest was a success. More than $100 million was invested in creating space travel solutions by non-government groups trying to win the prize. Big goals and big risks lead to big outcomes.
Peter explained that when Jeff Bezos started Amazon, the only product he was selling was books. Jeff connected a bell to their server so that each time a book sold the bell would ring. The first time the bell rang, Jeff and his friends started cheering. Soon, the bell was ringing non-stop and they had to turn it off to be able to concentrate on their jobs.
Can you imagine? The biggest store of all time started with one sale. Same way everything starts. An acorn is planted and one day it grows into a massive oak tree. But you need the seed to be planted. You need the idea to be stoked by inspiration and hard work. You need to take a chance on yourself.
Elon Musk had a number of companies that were all on the verge of bankruptcy in 2008. And today he is leading the way in electric cars and space travel.
There will be ups and downs. There will be failures and successes. We must start somewhere. The best time and place to start is now right where you are.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said, “The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
What risks are you taking today?