Personality Pays More than Size

 

Warren Buffet told a story at a University of Georgia (UGA) lecture about a company he bought out from Rose Blumkin − the Nebraska Furniture Mart, still the largest home furnishing store in North America. The woman came to America from Russia. Not knowing the language, she learned to speak English as her child, Francis, did.

She got her siblings and family also to the U.S. 17 years after she arrived, she bought $2000 worth of carpet with $500 equity − all the money she had. She took the bed, sofa and fridge out of her home to pay the $1500 she owed on time.

It was the last time she went in debt.

She put everyone out of business. Even when failing competition sued her, she won the case by asking the judge how much he’d like her to rob her customers. The judge bought carpet from her the next day.

She sold her business to Warren Buffet and, his company, Berkshire Hathaway at 89, worked till 103 and died at 104.

The most amazing part − she couldn’t read or write English.

                                                                                                                     

Some people are exceptional. Paraphrasing Warren Buffet from later on in his question and answer session, some industries require scale, but in most a person like Mrs. B., as people called Rose, can revolutionize an industry.

The point? Be the next Rose Blumkin. She didn’t know everything but she knew her industry − carpets − and she had great personality and drive. We all have the ability to learn and work on our skills in any area. It’s ultimately our decision to exploit those skills, work on ourselves and then put that improved self into action that makes us unique, giving us an edge. And that edge can not only change an industry and make a fortune, it can provide the ultimate reward − satisfaction and pride in one’s life.

Thanks for reading and talk to you soon!

Alex H.

Check out Inspire Halton's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/inspirehalton

To listen to Warren Buffet’s full address to UGA students:

For more on Mrs. B’s story:

http://www.nfm.com/ourstory_mrsb.aspx

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Saving the Shipwreck

Helloo0O Ladies and Gentlemen!

Welcome back to the Inspire Halton update feed, where we send you awesome stories to improve your life and the lives of those you love. Today, we’re going to talk about struggle.

Many of you have heard of the great classical composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. Along with Haydn and Mozart, he shaped the classical age with his nine symphonies and many piano works (the first movement from his fifth symphony, the “Ode to Joy” chorus from his ninth, Sonata Pathétique and his “Für Elise” piano bagatelle are all popular). Furthermore, always the rebel, he revolutionized music into the Romantic age, when feelings took over from the previous form of older composers.

It’s surprising Beethoven could compose anything, let alone the great works he did. From the age of thirty, he slowly began losing his hearing. By the time of his death, he was nearly completely deaf.

But, in his entire career, Beethoven only wrote one opera, Fidelio.

For those out there who don’t know, an opera is essentially a play where everything’s sung in arias, basically songs that further the plot. But, for some reason, this didn’t go down well with Beethoven. He wrote four overtures (introductions) to his composition, for the love of a cow!

In one letter to the man who helped him revise it in 1814, Georg Freidrich Treitschke, Beethoven wrote: "I assure you, dear Treitschke, that this opera will win me a martyr's crown. You have by your co-operation saved what is best from the shipwreck. For all this I shall be eternally grateful to you".

Even the greatest geniuses, the masters who shape our age, have their failings. They mess up, like you and I and it’s painful for them, too. The difference between them and us largely falls down to how willing they are to keep working - even when they don’t like it. Vince Lombardi, the legendary American football coach, said “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will”.

Get to work on that project that needs to be done, that workout that’s waiting to be run. Ignoring it’s the only thing preventing you moving forward to the next level in your life.

Alex H.