Rome Really Wasn’t Built in a Day

<img class="wp-image-23774 size-medium alignright" src="http://www.businessandfinancenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Rome-300×187.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="187" srcset="http://www.businessandfinancenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Rome-300×187.jpg 300w, http://www.businessandfinancenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Rome-700×437.jpg 700w, http://www.businessandfinancenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Rome-332×207.jpg 332w, http://www.businessandfinancenet.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Rome how to lose weight quickly.jpg 858w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />By Phin Upham

Wal-Mart is commonly mistaken to be something of an overnight success. The company seemed to spring up in some areas, and it had quickly claimed a spot as one of America’s top producing companies. While some of its policies came under fire, Wal-Mart quickly became America’s largest employer as well. To an outside observer, this can all seem like providence or something that took immense luck and occurred over a single night. In fact, Wal-Mart’s success was the product of policies the company had diligently practiced since 1945, the idea that high-volume sales could justify lower pricing.

It’s important to understand that there are no overnight success stories, no matter what you might otherwise see or hear. Stories of overnight wealth are told frequently, but it takes a lot more than a great idea. Otherwise all of us would be wealthy. One has to try and fail multiple times in order to launch a business, and then multiple times more to make that business work. Often, the business changes in some fundamental way. Owners go bankrupt, consult or get new jobs, then reenter the market a bit wiser than before.

Entrepreneurs shoulder a great deal of risk in pursuit of perfection in this ultimate game of capitalism. They don’t find that perfection in brief moments of brilliance, although thinking about a problem certainly does help. Failure is an important part of success, as observation and reason help to inform our experiences. We need failure in order to build on our ideas and observe why they fail, which is why it is sometimes helpful to learn the history and theory of something new before trying to master it.


About the Author: Phin Upham is an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media and Telecom group. You may contact Phin on his Phin Upham website or LinkedIn page.