No matter your professional or personal goals, there will always be perpetual pessimists out there who doubt you will be successful. And it is not always your competitors or perceived enemies. Sometimes it is your best friend, trusted mentor, or even a business idol who says, “Give up, you can’t do it.” No matter how much you look to someone for inspiration, do not let pessimists thwart your dreams.
You must rise above, ignore the fear-filled and jealous naysayers, and focus on your goals. Display your uncompromising dedication to the vision you have and prove the merit of your idea. When you fail to do this and give up, you have proven only one thing: Your defeatists were right, and there is no satisfaction in that realization.
A few years after I launched my first company, Lang Masonry, I attended a Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) meeting. During a roundtable breakout session, my group was discussing how to gain market share by expanding the use of masonry. Among their laundry list of complaints that day was that architects and engineers were adding more and more grout and rebar into block walls for stability, and how that was going to kill masonry’s competitive edge.
The group seemed to agree that a lack of reliable equipment made it difficult to meet the grouting requirements. They were specifically speaking of grout pumps that were constantly plugging up. One contractor said his crew had long since abandoned using pumps and relied on the back-breaking use of five-gallon buckets.
I felt there had to be a way to solve the issue we were discussing and was convinced we never touched on a solution. This group was focused on saving the ship rather than just plugging the hole. I took numerous notes, believing the hole in the ship had been identified, I just needed to filter through and determine which solution would stop the leak.
Shortly after that meeting, I was on a job site in Ellenboro, West Virginia, laying block on a stair shaft at a window factory. We were having so many issues with our grout pumps, we decided to pour six yards of grout in the walls by hand. After 90 minutes of pouring grout, we were back on the wall laying block. With sweat dripping from my forehead onto the 12” blocks I was laying, my muscles were feeling the burn. Knowing that a person can only lift so many pounds in a day before productivity drops significantly, I realized we could not maintain our pace of productivity the rest of the day.
Later that night, I did some quick math and discovered we had lifted more than 11 tons of grout, the equivalent weight of laying an additional 634 block, which was more than half the number of block we laid that day. My mind immediately went back to the MCAA breakout session discussion. This is an industry-wide problem, which means developing a solution would not only fix my issue but garner me a small percentage of everything I save the industry.
If I was motivated before, realizing the potential residual income I could generate if I resolved the problem pushed my brain into high gear. I determined the solution was to take the weight of the grout from the mortar tub and put it directly into the wall without using those back breaking buckets, and I set out to develop a machine that could do just that.
After a few years of trials, my team and I made some progress, but the issues and failed tests seemed to outweigh the successes. That was when the outside noises began. I shared the idea with my brother and a friend, and they told me it would never work. Then later, during a hunting trip with my long-time hero (who was 30 years my senior), I explained how I was going to change the industry with this new grouting method. Using language that I dare not repeat in this article, he told me in no uncertain terms that I was nuts.
During the 10 years it took to develop the first Grout Hog, the negative noise was so loud that there were times I wondered if the skeptics were correct. Fortunately, something inside pushed me to persist. I credit my courage to never give up on reaching my destination to the many books I had read on famous inventors. Their stories served to fortify my desire and encourage my inner voice to be louder than my critics.
Now, here we are 30 years later, and that little Grout Hog has led to many more inventions, resulting in a thriving business with 150 employees, two huge factories, and sales that are expected to surpass $50 million this year alone.
Of course, if you think the noise stops after you achieve your dream, you are wrong. If anything, your doubters get louder. Even the people whose opinions you were not worried about while chasing your dream may seem louder and start to get into your head after your mission is accomplished.
For example, after a round of golf last week, I was having a drink with a friend who owns a laundromat. He shared how he risked his life savings and future prosperity to start his business. He built an incredible facility, complete with top-of-the-line washers, dryers, and other equipment. He was frustrated that after establishing the best laundromat in town, a woman gave it a one-star review because she was charged $1 to dry her clothes.
Obviously, before she left her rating, she did not take into consideration my friend’s investment risk, or she would have understood that one dryer has to run 10,000 cycles before my friend sees any kind of return.
My advice to him was that there will always be outside noise; ignore those distractions. Be like a Budweiser Clydesdale. In a parade, they are outfitted with side blinders that limit their peripheral vision. That prevents the horses from getting distracted by the crowd and other stimuli. It helps them stay focused and calm, and it ensures they perform reliably throughout the parade. I encouraged him to put on the proverbial binders and focus on continuing to run the best laundromat possible rather than stressing over one bad review.
Negative advice, however, is not without merit. For many, it strengthens their determination. If that is you, then lean into it. For everyone else, keep your blinders firmly in place. It is also not out of the realm of possibility that an opinion that differs from yours may be based on someone’s genuine desire to offer valuable wisdom. As you are bombarded with the views of others, it is to your advantage to listen and decipher between noise and insight. Being able to analyze the validity of input could help you make necessary pivots that may ultimately lead to your breakthrough.
Business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs are constantly put to the test, asked to take risks, and confronted by people who project their fear of risk. Successfully navigating those expectations and rising above the negativity is what makes us great leaders. Are there outside noises distracting you from a great opportunity? Are they preventing you from advancing your career, business, or invention? If you are going to be a game-changer, innovator, or pioneer, the voice in your head needs to be louder than the voice of your critics.
Success does not happen overnight, so it is up to you to filter the noise so you can stay focused. As you plod through the tests and trial runs, keep reminding yourself that greatness has never been achieved by someone who let the negative noises alter their path to greatness.
