You Sleep When You Die

Last weekend, Laura pulled into St. Maarten, the same port she had left from over a year ago and 27,000 nautical miles earlier. She is now sixteen and the youngest person ever to sail around the globe alone. I salute her. Should Laura have been allowed to make this trip in the first place? It seems like everybody’s got an opinion. Mine starts from the assumption that this is a special kid.

One thing is certain. At some point, you are going to get sucker-punched, and it is going to hurt. It doesn’t matter whether or not the hit you took was “fair” – no one promised that it would be – but whether you get up off the floor. Even if you get knocked down 10 times, make damn sure you get up 11 times. Take action!

Desperation is a great starting point for a new career. All the intense emotions you are feeling as you contemplate making your way through the next phase of your life can either be your greatest enemy or your most important ally. If those emotions paralyze you, they are going to be your enemy. If they kick you in the ass and get you moving, if they remind you that you have to take immediate action, then you will find that those intense emotions are your biggest ally.

You are The Trophy Generation. You expect way too much. You expect to be praised and rewarded for coming in second. Hell, you expect to be rewarded for just showing up. Guess what? There is no second place. And, in the real word, people don’t get paid for just showing up.

The big reason Party City is a great role model for today’s retailers is that they treat the customer’s money and time just as though it were their own…Party City now has an extremely successful marketing methodology in place, one that’s resonating powerfully with consumers … even when discretionary dollars are tight.