If ever you faced challenges in business or life and wondered whether you could ever recover, trust me you can. My friend “Leo” is a prime example of what the human spirit is capable of doing.

That’s a picture of Leo at right. He’s standing in front of his oil well at an undisclosed Kansas location. Having your own oil well might lead you to believe that Leo is living on “easy street”. Well, that wasn’t always the case.

Leo is as true an entrepreneur as anyone I’ve ever known. In the 25+ years that I’ve known him, Leo has been:

  • a convenience store owner
  • a home builder – he built my home in Texas
  • a sales rep
  • a concrete foundation contractor
  • a real estate developer

Leo started each venture at zero. He possessed no specialized knowledge in any of these areas – especially the oil and gas venture – but he did the work to become the expert in each area so that he could excel in his venture.

About 8 years ago, the real estate market tanked right as Leo had signed an $8 million housing project. The buyers backed out at the last minute leaving Leo millions in debt. Leo knew he needed a big hit to get out of debt, so he reasoned that oil and gas would be his next venture. There was only one problem: Leo knew nothing about oil or gas.

So what did he do?

He got on the Internet and read. He learned as much as he could about the industry. He looked for trends and began to find possible opportunities.

Then he got in his car.

He drove out into the Texas country side. He met with land owners and somehow scraped enough money together to lease land with the intent of drilling for oil. In doing so, he got in the way of a big oil company that bought out his land leases for $8.5 million thereabouts.

The thing about Leo is that he knows himself well enough to know that anything is possible if you give it enough attention, focus and hard work. There is never a question in his mind about whether he can recover from a setback. It’s more about “how” he’ll recover. He’s done this time and time again after any setback.

So as you read Leo’s story and his recovery from adversity, take a look at your story. Are setbacks holding your business back? If so, what are you doing about it?

Everyone has talent to recover and succeed just like Leo. The first step is deciding to succeed. The next step is putting your plan together.

Why not put your plan together starting today? Get your business up to the next level – whatever that is for you. Then put your plan into action.

Putting your plan into action may require a lot of hard work. But just remember, it will be worthwhile.

By the way, Leo phoned me yesterday saying that the well tested out positive. It’s forecasted to produce $2 million in revenue over the next 8 years. Not bad for a $200k investment. Now, just think of the possibilities for your business with such minimal investment for people to get started.

Thanks for reading.

To your success,