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Good morning madam Toastmaster, fellow club members, and honored guests. My speech this morning comes from a chapter in the next book I’m publishing early next year.

The book is made up of interviews and life lessons from successful entrepreneurs, inventors, war heroes & people who have excelled in life. I’ve also combined personal insights and life experiences, including how I fought to survive malignant brain cancer while building a company that now serves customers in all 50 states.

I’m speaking at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas in a few weeks & I’m experimenting with using a teleprompter to help with the memory issues.

My next book titled, “Success, Survival & Sacrifice will be available on Amazon, Apple Books & in major book retailers Nationwide.

I’d love your feedback after I share this part of my next book!

What Is Your Excuse?

A few years ago, I met a guy driving a custom twin-turbo Ferrari. I decided to introduce myself and ask how he became so successful. Surprisingly, he told me how his wife left him after they lost their home. He ended up bankrupt and living on the street. During his first night sleeping in the park, he decided that he had to do something with his life.

He started visiting construction sites, trying to get a job. Many of them turned him down, but the last job site he visited mentioned a particular problem. The company that normally supplied their roofing trusses had messed up an order (again). They were stuck without a good source of some very specific trusses they needed.

He told me that he’d done some construction work as a teenager, so he decided to solve this problem. He went to a pawn shop and picked up a circular saw, combination square, tape measure, and a hammer. That night, after everyone at the construction company went home, he returned to the job site. He spent hours building “the perfect truss” to give them the next morning, using lumber he found on-site.

They were impressed with the quality and he closed that first deal. They gave him payment in advance for the entire order, so he had money to buy the lumber and supplies he needed plus some profit. That was the start of his custom truss company and the beginning of his success.

What Is Your Excuse?

Are you working a job you hate? Do you need to make more money? Is there a business idea that could change your entire life? Are you struggling to lose some extra weight? The challenge for many people is not finding their goal but deciding to actually pursue it. What is your excuse for not achieving your goal?

Seeing this guy pull up in a bright yellow, twin-turbo Ferrari many people respond with, “It must be nice!” You might assume that he was born into money, or that he was just “one of those rich guys” for most of his life. It would be easy to think he didn’t know what it was like to struggle. I would never have guessed from the Ferrari he was driving, or the clothes he was wearing, that he had been homeless just a few years earlier.

Create Opportunities For Success

After going bankrupt, losing his wife, and living on the street, this man decided to choose the direction of his future. He didn’t sit on the side of the road with a cardboard sign asking for handouts. He started visiting construction site after construction site in search of a job. When they denied him a job as a laborer, he found a problem the company was experiencing and created a solution. This gentleman made millions of dollars because he didn’t give up when life gave him lemons.

Provide A Solution

Business ideas often fail because they don’t provide a solution to a problem. If you’re creating a new business, you may find success more easily if you fill a gap in the market. If you’re trying to expand an existing business, you will likely succeed by providing a solution to a problem your potential customers are already experiencing. Do some research, ask customers, and discover the “pain points” in your target industry. Discover problems that need a solution.

Be Willing To Risk Short-Term Comfort

Although he was already homeless, this guy took the last few dollars he had and invested in himself to buy the tools to build his future. He didn’t squander his last few bucks on a hotel room or a fancy meal, but instead invested in an opportunity he decided to create. By risking short-term comfort, he was able to build the foundation for a business that has made him extremely wealthy.

Imagine you are living on the street, with only a few dollars to your name. Would you spend what little you had left on tools instead of food or a place to sleep? Taking a calculated risk could be the difference between short-term comfort or a lifetime of success!

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