Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Eduction alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent
—- Calvin Coolidge 1872
But there are two kinds of persistence: if you’re chasing the potential love of your life, and he/she is not interested, you can demonstrate persistence by continuing to chase, or you can demonstrate persistence by giving up and going off to chase someone else. What matters is that you don’t give up on the chase entirely.
So, too, in business.
Pushing a new enterprise takes persistence: but it also takes maturity to call time on something that’s just not working out. Often, it seems that money is what holds us back but actually time is the only truly scarce resource for all of us as individuals. We only get one shot at life and there really is no point in pushing something that, frankly, died a while ago.
The mark of a true entrepreneur is that they get back up when something knocks them down and have another go … but not necessarily at the same venture.
