You’re probably wondering what the hell I have to say about a $1,500 dog and what does this have to do with the restaurant and bar business. It’s not a $1,500 hot dog, I can tell you that.
I’ve got a great story to share with you today that really inspired me to never take no for an answer or to never feel like I can’t accomplish anything I’ve ever wanted.
Question For You..
Do you ever feel stuck in your business? Do you sit back and think about other owners who have multiple locations and are making a killing, but you don’t believe you could ever reach that level of success? Or is there anything in life you really, really want, but just think it will never happen?
I want to share a story with you that I hope will eliminate you ever thinking you can’t accomplish anything in life. I was at a seminar back in July and the speaker told us the story of Sylvester Stallone. How he went from nearly being homeless to one of the best actors in Hollywood.
How It All Began
If you’ve heard this story before, it’s worth hearing over and over so stay with me, I’ll give you the short version here. Stallone’s acting career began as a massive struggle. Getting turned down over and over. Then he started writing screenplays and received the same rejection.
Stallone had pretty much ran out of money and was living in a desperate situation. He could barely feed his family and he wouldn’t get an average job. Why? Because he knew his outcome and that outcome was to be a famous actor.
One day Stallone is home watching a fight between Weppner and Ali. Weppner was getting his ass handed to him but he kept coming back for more. He was fighting with everything he had even knowing he had a slim chance to beating Ali.
Rocky Was Born
This fight inspired Stallone to write a script based on his inspiration in Weppner and he did this in one day. 20 hours of writing. This was the script to Rocky.
Stallone tried selling this Rocky screenplay to hundreds of different producers and they all turned him down. This happened over several months time.
Sold His Best Friend!
He was so poor at this time, he decided to sell his best friend. His dog. Stallone waited outside a liquor store trying to sell him and finally someone offered him $50. The last thing he ever wanted to do was sell his best friend for $50 but he had to survive.
Stallone then kept trying to sell his script and he finally got an offer for $350,000 but they didn’t want him as the main actor. They wanted someone who was fit for the role, someone who had an actual acting career.
Is He Crazzzzzzy!!!
Stallone turned it down!! $350,000 he turned down because the $350,000 wasn’t the outcome he was looking to accomplish. It was being the main actor in a movie.
$350,000 in the late 70’s was a big amount of money, especially to someone who had to sell their best friend for $50.
Finally… A Breakthrough!
Few months went by, he’s still trying to sell this script and finally the guys who made him that offer cut a deal with Stallone for a substantial discount. They said they’d buy the script and let him be the main actor Rocky but only for $25,000. He took the deal and the very first thing he did was went back to that liquor store to buy his dog back.
$1,500 Dog
It took days for him to see the man who he sold it to. Stallone offered him $150 bucks and he wouldn’t sell him the dog back. It ended up costing him $1,500 to buy his best friend back.
As we all know, Rocky won an Academy award in 76 but do you know what he did? He read all the rejection slips from those who said the film was worthless and nobody would watch it!
Why This Story Is
Important To You & Everyone Else!
The moral of this story is, you have all the resources you need to overcome any obstacle in your way. There’s nothing that can stop you. Persistence pays off every time in every single situation.
If you know what you want, you can always find a way to get it. If you have goals you’re after, they can be accomplished but you can’t ever give up and you have to start trying new strategies and tacts! Stallone tried being an actor by trying out to be an actor. Didn’t work.
So he wrote a screen play to sell to producers under the restriction of him being the actor. Yea he was turned down but he didn’t give up, he knew what he wanted and he did everything he had to to get it
I’ve Got A Similar Story
When I was managing for my dad, I wanted to own the bar. I didn’t want to work for tips. I wanted work for profits. I’m 26 years old at the time and I didn’t have the $250k that he wanted at the time. I could have just given up but I didn’t. I knew my outcome was to be a bar restaurant owner. So I reached out to 3 others to loan me money and I got the job done.
So if you want to open another location, but the money isn’t there, there is a way. If you’re not as busy as you’d like to be, there’s always a new marketing approach to try that you haven’t tried yet. There’s always a new offer to test.
My advice is: never give up and continue to try new approaches after the first ones don’t work. Eventually, you’ll find a way to accomplish anything you want. YES, there will be frustrating times, but they will be worth it!
If you need help finding new approaches, look into the $1 trial of my group coaching program below. I’d be happy to help you out!
