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Dick kissed his wife on the cheek. He reached down into the vanilla box for his sandwich. The box tumbled out of his hands and landed in a puddle. It floated.
"That's it,” shouted Jay. He grabbed Dick's elbow. "Don't you see— that's it!”
It only took a day to add the inflated pontoon boats to the Piper Cub. Now instead of wheels, it had floats. Now, instead of the muddy runway, they used the river.
But another calamity awaited: a lightning storm. A bolt of lightning struck the hut, shattering it.
Without an office, it was hard to run operations.
Dick, however, found a solution. He bought a chicken coop from the farmer down the road for $25.
"One last yard," said Dick, talking to the old mare. The mare grunted as it dragged along the chicken coop.
After propping up the chicken coop, Dick began whitewashing it.
"There," said Dick, slapping on the last coat.
He stepped back to join his wife, Doreen, and his partner, Jay. All of them admired the bright chicken coop. It proudly bore the blue legend "Wolverine Air Service."
"Soon," said Dick, "Millions will be flying their own planes. They'll come to us and we'll teach them.”
“And it only cost us $200 to get this Piper Cub," added Jay.
“Airplanes will swarm the air, the way cars do the ground," predicted Dick.
Just then a freckled-faced young man came up to them.
"Is this your school?" he asked, squinting at Dick.
"Have you come for lessons?" asked Dick.
"Darn right!"
"We’d love to teach you, but we don't know how to fly!" confessed Dick.
A few days later, however, they found a flight instructor. Dick straightened out the sheaf of papers on his ramshackle desk as the last interviewee walked out of the shack. He looked over at Jay. "Well?" Jay nodded. "I like him."
"Then we have a new flight instructor," said Dick, smiling broadly.
The next day, Dick and the new flight instructor stood outside the chicken coop office.
"How are you going to pay me?" asked the flight instructor, a tall man with thick dark hair and brilliant blue eyes.
"Cash," said Dick, unruffled.
"But you said a moment ago that you don't have any money?"
"I don't," confirmed Dick, "but they do."
The flight instructor turned around to follow Dick's finger. He had to chuckle. On the edge of the field was Jay whooping in a group of three eager students, all trussed up in flight gear. They were wet to their thighs from wading across the river.
"They'll be the first to graduate," affirmed Bob, the new flight instructor.
This is the story of Richard M. DeVos and his high-school buddy, Jay Van Andel, who came home after the Second World War convinced that the aviation business would be the trend of the future.
The only limits are those that you set up for yourself. Limited thoughts create limited people.
The story reveals seven of the essential keys to success.
The first key is self-confidence. Richard and Jay believed in their dream. They had no market survey to convince themselves that flying lessons would be profitable. They had no real airport, no personal flying experience, and no particular skill in selling lessons.
They grasped the big picture and colored in the details as they went along.
The second key is persistence. They persisted in the face of severe setbacks. These setbacks would have been enough to dissuade anyone. They could have backed down without losing face. They didn’t have a runway –so, they improvised and used the river. Then, they lost their shack – so, they bought a chicken coop. Then, they had students, but no flying instructor – so, they hired one. And finally they had a flying instructor but no money – so, they found students.
The third key is purpose. They set themselves up the big goal of teaching flying lessons.
Before they could meet this goal, they set out to achieve smaller ones…they needed “runway” of sorts, an office, a flight instructor, and students. They met one sub-goal after another—relentlessly. They did not display aimlessness. They didn’t slip into helplessness. Because they held to their purpose, creative ideas moved them from one step to the next. They never allowed themselves to feel that they were “going nowhere.”
The fourth key is recognizing that success is based on the law of averages. Success is not all of one piece. They did not succeed every day. Often it may have seemed that they would not succeed at all. But behind every obstacle there was a way around.
The fifth key is the willingness to pay the price of success. They were willing to buy an airplane based on speculation. They believed that they could find students. And they believed that they could find someone to teach these students. They paid the price of success by taking on risk and by working smart to make those risks pay off.
The sixth key is to enjoy the experience. Since they were both interested and involved in the venture, they were enthusiastically committed to resolving whatever issues arose.
The seventh key is to be willing to be original. They decided that flying lessons would be popular and decided to create a school. They created their idea from scratch. There were no other successful models they could imitate.
In your own life, you can use these success principles
Choose to be self-confident. Believe in your dream, in the evidence of things not seen.
Choose to be persistent. When things go wrong, as they inevitably will, persist. Don’t turn back when you hit an obstacle, go over, under, around, or through it.
Choose to act with purpose. Start out with a purpose and when things get difficult, hold on to your purpose. Let your purpose empower creative ideas and breakthroughs.
Choose to play the battle of averages. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail; you just need that one success to break through to a new level. For example, it doesn’t matter if you get turned down by a number of employers; you just need one job to be employed.
Choose to pay the price for success. When you choose to be successful, there is a price that is required…it may be risk-taking, money, time, effort, anxiety. Be willing to pay the price before you even start.
Choose to enjoy the experience. Any new undertaking is an adventure. Immerse yourself in the movie of your own life; enjoy the twists and turns of the plot.
And, finally, choose to be original. Even if your idea is not new, try and find a new angle to it; make your idea special, exceptional in some way.
Above all, when you choose to get your dreams off the ground, refuse to believe in limits.
Every problem has a solution. Every obstacle has a way around it.
Find ways to stretch your beliefs about what is possible. Break free of self-imposed limits.
P.S. Remember, stay the course. If you can keep up with each issue, you'll develop an irresistible momentum toward a life of happiness, success, and contribution. |