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Frank Barry

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You will succeed, as long as you can see light at the end of the tunnel. Listen only to yourself.

My passion was manufacturing, and I excelled at running small and large plants. A move to a dry climate. My passion was marketing, and I excelled at building a Health Insurance Company from scratch. My passion was research and development and I excelled at maufacturing a TVRO satellite system to market to hotels and motels. My passion was the real estate forclosure markets and I excelled at buying and selling commercial properties. My passion was bullion and I excelled at building a brokerage exchange. My passion was golf and I excelled at fabricating and marketing golf clubs world-wide. I only play golf once in my life, and only to the 15 hole. I rode the reast of the way.

My great careers numbered 21. There were more failed attempts than successful ones.

Those are the great careers. Never be afraid to fail.

I think my life has been satisfying -- When the tax man came to my door, and asked why not? I responded, that you cannot get blood from a tunip.

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    Feyisayo Anjorin 50+

    • +1
    May 20 2012: Every success story is a series of experiences of hardship overcomed by persistence. I'm a bit reluctant to take the 'listen only to yourself' bit. What if one is a pessimist that needs to listen regularly to encouraging words to keep going?
    The most important thing is for one to keep trying to effect positive change; sometimes progress seems to move at snail speed, sometimes there is an overwhelming temptayion to quit; but words are powerful, one should hear inspiring and encouraging words. Yes, you should motivate yourself. You should also treasure motivation from other sources.

    • Frank Barry

      • 0
      May 20 2012: Motivation from the opines of others is great.
      The problem that generally prohibits "taking the first step" comes when you communicate your passion to other sources and the feedback is negative. The "pessimist" has a "hard row to hoe".

      When I start a passion, I communicate it to those I feel will be encouraging me, or at least not "throwing heavy rocks of discouragement". I usually ask not their opines, but for their assistance. Then I listen for their excuses why they cannot. Most times, I find a gem or two.

      A Hobby Story -- For over 20 years I have had a passion to "get the horse race right". I developed a computer program to aid my passion. Now-a-days I rise early, drink my coffee, crank up my computer, and search for programming errors made the previous day. I am at or about 68% winners. Wagering is unimportant, as each percentage-point gained has become the passion itself.

      Does my wife understand? NO. Do my children? NO. Does it bother me? OF COURSE. Will I let their opines affect my passion? OF COURSE NOT.

      My daughter-in-law now spends 2 hours a day doing my "grunt work" handling the data entry. She, out of all my now large family, seems to understand. Her birthday is today. I wish her well. We have fun.
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