Persistent Home Business Marketing – The Turtles Will Still Be In the Race Next Year
I guess what caught my eye was his picture and the fact that the man was 61 years old. Just doing some web browsing when I found out about Cliff Young, the legendary marathon runner in Australia.
His name came to the attention of his countrymen in 1983 when he was a surprise entrant for a 543-mile run from Sydney to Melbourne.
He arrived for the race wearing overalls and gumboots and took a place among a field of elite runners, most of whom had trained hard for the event. It didn’t take too long for these experienced runners to leave Cliff behind as the race began. Many of the spectators and media watching the race were struck by his unusual but peculiar running style, a kind of shuffling gait.
Many thought Cliff really wasn’t serious and thought it could all be just a publicity stunt. Because of his advanced age, many even feared for his health and questioned whether or not he could even finish the race.
Unlike a lot of people that play around with a home business, he was not put off by the doubters. He was not put off by those who questioned his methods.
And he had no intention of quitting.
What makes you think you can compete in a race like this, he was asked. This potato farmer from nowhere replied,
See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or four wheel drives, and the whole time I was growing up– until about four years ago when we finally made some money and got a four wheeler– whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 head, and we have 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d catch them. I believe I can run this race; it’s only two more days. Five days. I’ve run sheep for three.
It was standard for the experienced marathoners to run 18 hours and sleep 6 hours. The thing is, old Cliff Young did not know that!
On the morning of the second day, everyone was surprised to learn that Cliff was still in the race. Not only was he still in race, but he had continued to run throughout most of the night without stopping.
When asked what his strategy was for the remainder of the race, he let everyone know his plan was to keep running straight to the finish line without sleeping.
As the race went on, Cliff kept running slowly with his now familiar shuffle. Each night he inched closer and closer to the front runners as they rested their 6 hours. During the final night of the race, Cliff had finally caught up to and eventually passed the pack of professional athletes while they were sleeping. When he crossed the finish line first that day, he had set the new course record and beat his competitors by a large margin. At the end of the race, he took the $10,000 prize money and gave it away to five other runners and returned quietly to his ranch.
Asked what advice he’d give to other elderly runners, he said, “No matter what you do, you have to keep moving. If you don’t wear out, you rust out.”
My first thought in reading about this legend was the classic “hare and the tortoise” story. Indeed, many other websites refer to it that way.
Persistence. As a home business owner, the same trait is required. There are a whole lot of people that have confused “business” with “get rich quick.”
During the past ten days, I had a list of accomplishments that needed to be completed by yesterday. I worked more or less constantly. I felt like the “hare.” But that is not the basis of winning. It is the behavior of the tortoise that is required to be successful.
As a baby boomer, I have never been good at staying the course, at persistence. But I have no doubt that building a business is a long term commitment.
So listen up business owners, and especially you boomers! This is a call to persistent marketing. You will have days that require a sprint. But it is the persistent shuffle that will actually build your business.
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