Ep. 136 – Climbing mountains and entrepreneurial success – The 3rd and last part – Some of the most amazing mountains’ stories you heard
OK, my dear Reachers.
This is the third and last part (for now…) of the Reach Or Miss mountains project;
Listen to these incredible mountain stories I heard from the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed on my podcast.
You can then listen to the full interview with each of them and hear about the visions, the struggles, and how these entrepreneurs reached their success.
From the incredible story about a young man that hoped to find a cure for his own brain tumor, so he Invented a 3D solution for brain surgeons,
To learning how mountaineers prepare to their journey to the peak of Mount Cotopaxi in Ecuador,
To climb the mountain “that we call life that we always have to be climbing and never to give up…”,
to open a company that takes young people to an ‘Adventure Therapy’ on the mountains of Ireland, or another outdoor journey,
To climb 888 stairs (45 floors) of an office building in downtown Dallas for a fundraiser for lung cancer.”
I hope these mountain stories will encourage you to find out what should you – as an entrepreneur looking for your breakthrough to success – take from their stories to help find the necessary step to reach your peak?
Many successful entrepreneurs climb mountains, while others use mountains as a metaphor to describe what is necessary to conquer the peak – including the fatiguing yet rewarding journey to the top. Still other entrepreneurs use mountains as an analogy for a significant goal they wish to achieve – such as becoming a billion-dollar-market-cap company. (See Mellissah Smith’s mountain story.)
For many years, I’ve compared the act of taking possession of your potential customers’ minds and of building awareness, likeability, and trust of a leading brand to the act of climbing the highest mountains.
You climb step by step to the peak, reach your position as a market leader and a leading brand, and then start climbing a new mountain with a new product line or another brand.
The idea of mountains as representations of a strong position in the market is mentioned by Al Ries and Jack Trout in the excellent book, Marketing Warfare.
“In military warfare, mountains and higher altitude areas represent strong positions and often are used to present a strong defense. In marketing warfare, the question is one of who holds the mountains in the consumer's mind.”
So, at some point after the launch of my podcast for entrepreneurs, I started to ask the successful entrepreneurs I interviewed about their habits or dreams of climbing one of the highest mountains in the world.
Listen to these inspiring stories, find which entrepreneurs and stories you identify with most, and review your entrepreneurial objectives, market overview, and plan. By making your business as strong as possible, you will be able to quickly and easily achieve entrepreneurial success.
Avi Yaron hoped to find a cure for his own brain tumor, so he Invented a 3D solution for brain surgeons. After It was very successfully sold he is now in a mission to save lives
- My life was never easy, and in my Army service, I climbed many mountains. I learned that my limit is only the limit of my belief. As long as I have belief, I will make it.
- I help a lot of people with brain tumors, and unlike other diseases, people learn overnight that they could die. There’s no warning. They enter a state of shock, and they often just say Yes Doctor, to the first surgeon and in many cases, it’s not the right move.
- What I try to do is to inspire them to take more responsibility over their health and life knowing that everything is like climbing a mountain and I actually give this example: Life is a journey, and in a journey, sometimes you fall and sometimes you get hurt, but if you’re inspired to reach something that is extremely important, whether it’s to stay alive or to help other people’s lives, you will pick yourself up, you will pick up the pieces and you will continue the journey.
You can listen to the full episode with Avi Yaron here: Hoping to find a cure for his own brain tumor, Avi Yaron Invented a 3D solution for brain surgeons. After It was very successfully sold he is now in a mission to save lives
Carla Johnson is a world-renowned storyteller.
Named one of the top 50 women in marketing, one of the top 25 women in digital marketing, and one of the top 10 influencers in marketing technology worldwide, Carla challenges conventional thinking.
- It’s a beautiful question because I live in Colorado, which is known for its mountains; we have 54 mountains that people seek to climb because they are particularly high. And I remember the first time that I climbed a mountain and how early I had to get up for it.
- And it takes me back to a trip to Ecuador with my husband. We went with a group of Europeans who were going to hike Mount Cotopaxi and to see their preparation and how they got up at 2:00 am in the night. And I thought of how much of this climbing is being done before the actual hike, and the commitment and dedication you need.
You can listen to the full episode with Carla Johnson here: Carla Johnson – Instead of banging the drums and try to get customers’ attention we should ask how can I help my customers?
Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized cloud computing expert, Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog.
- There is a mountain that we call life that we always have to be climbing and I think it’s important never to give up climbing on the mountain of life.
- People have asked me when I will retire, and I say I’ll never retire. Because being relevant to society gives me life. Your business delivers value to society, and in return, you feel good about living. So, never give up on life by always stay relevant. Keep climbing.
You can listen to the full episode with Kevin L. Jackson here: Kevin L. Jackson “It’s all about information and about knowledge. You have to know people to communicate with people. Cloud Computing is a platform for collecting information and delivering information.”
Kate Sheehan a Director of The OT Service and Occupational Therapist specializing in environmental design and equipment provision
- I would always think of a mountain called Bowfell in the lake district in England, which is the most beautiful mountain to climb. But it has particular resonance to me because on my Dad’s 80th birthday. My Dad didn’t want to party; he wanted the whole family to climb up Bowfell with him.
- We got to the top of the Bowfell and drunk Champagne for my dad, and for me, again, it comes down to my Dad’s philosophy which is ‘you can do anything if you want to’!
You can listen to the full episode with Kate Sheehan here: Kate Sheehan’s best advice to entrepreneurs: “You can’t compromise your reputation! If you come across as being honest and being ethical, then people will approach you.”
Bowfell mountain
Phil Friedman has a long and varied background in the marine industry, as a yacht builder, boat and shipyard manager, small business and startup advisor, and yachting writer and editor
- I feel a little embarrassed to answer this question. When my wife and I have a vacation we generally head to the mountains, maybe because where we live even the hills are short. So we have been in many mountains, in the Rocky Mountains, mountains in Europe and we’ve been in the Alps, so we love mountains but, and this is why I said I’m a little embarrassed to answer this question, we don’t climb up the mountains!
- We always hike down. We find either chairlifts or tramps to take us up the mountain, and then we hike down. I guess you can say that I look for challenges that have to do with walking down the hill.
- You’d be surprised how much you can see. If you’re going up the mountain, you’re always looking at the rocks in front of your face, but when you’re going down the mountain, you’re looking at the whole view. Maybe it’s also a good metaphor.
You can listen to the full episode with Phil Friedman here: Phil Friedman: “The key to being an entrepreneur is in functioning as an entrepreneur; Be very flexible and really keep the overall picture in mind”
Bea Pole-Bokor is the Owner & Founder of B!Social
A professional diplomat by training, Bea has been successfully branding and promoting a country at top levels in the international scene before going digital and establishing B!Social
- In New Zealand, people often, when they introduce themselves, they say that they have a mountain. I’m originally from Hungary, but I live in New Zealand now, and this somehow had such a strong affect on me because when we moved to New Zealand, New Zealand has a lot of volcanoes, and there’s this beautiful volcano called Rangitoto in Auckland and it’s scary but it looks exactly like a volcano in Hungary, by a lake where I used to spend my summer holidays and then there was this amazing link between the two volcanoes, both dormant now, that look basically exactly the same, so that’s one of my mountain stories because it’s related to me and I feel these both are my mountains, and climbing a mountain is also connected to volcanoes, I like climbing and one of the craziest adventures I’ve ever had was climbing Mt. Rangitoto in New Zealand, which was also featured in The Lord of the Rings, so I climbed Mt. Doom! It was an amazing experience and I recommend it to everyone who visits New Zealand.
You can listen to the full episode with Bea Pole-Bokor here: A special episode from the SMMW19 conference in San Diego with Bea Pole-Bokor – from a professional diplomat working in UNESCO to a social media successful entrepreneur
Entrepreneur Magazine put Josh Steimle on their 50 Inspirational Entrepreneurs to Watch and Forbes recognized him as one of 25 Marketing Influencers To Watch In 2017
- I grew up camping and hiking. My father loves camping, loves the mountains, so I grew up going to the High Sierra in Southern California, and then, when I moved to Hong Kong, I lived there from 2013 to 2016, I got into trail running out there. I used to run up and down the mountains there. Well, run is not quite the proper word, maybe a quick hike is a better way to say it. I’m not physically fit enough to run up a mountain, but I spent a lot of time out on these trails, on these mountains and it’s just gorgeous out there and I loved being out in nature, I loved the sense of accomplishment of straining to get up this mountain, being drenched in sweat, but then reaching the top and thinking, I made it.
You can listen to the full episode with Josh Steimle here: Entrepreneur Magazine put Josh Steimle on their 50 Inspirational Entrepreneurs to Watch and Forbes recognized him as one of 25 Marketing Influencers To Watch In 2017, And yet he says “If I’ve had any success, I’ve had 10 times as many failures”
Don Philpott
Currently the CMO for Carista App, No.1 Product on Amazon UK and Japan. MD of AD360.co/AD360.eu – one of the world’s top marketing automation/inbound strategy companies.
- I used to be an outdoor instructor, so sailing, kayaking, and mountaineering. Often, when I’m sitting on the side of a mountain, we’d have a group of 5-6 young guys, and one would sit down beside me and say, “Look, I’ve this issue or problem in my family situation…” and they would talk to me about it.
- This happened a lot, so you’re out with different groups of kids pretty much all year round, and this situation happened regularly because you are a person that has trust because you’re an instructor, and people feel able to talk to you. So, they would actually come to you because they needed to relieve themselves of this stress or they needed to relieve the burden and they would discuss it with me. I went to school, I studied psychotherapy after this and it was essentially that I was a person who listened, and they could understand or empathize with that, and they would open themselves up because you were the only person essentially they could talk to. So, this was a very common situation, and it went farther than that slightly because I started a company called Adventure Therapy Ireland, which was exactly this principal. You take young people into the outdoors, it can be older people as well; it’s not a counseling session, it’s not a psychotherapy session, it’s just you talking to somebody else and they speaking about their existence. It’s not your office, it’s not confrontational, it’s not you sitting on a chair judging someone, it’s just having a conversations outdoors. It’s a very freeing experience for people.
You can listen to the full episode with Don Philpott here: Don Philpott – “… You must address the customer, you must get the customer’s feedback, you must actually talk to customers…You MUST do the work”
Pamela J. Goodwin is the founder of Goodwin Commercial based in Dallas, TX, a boutique commercial real estate firm specializing in de-veloping retail/restaurant pad sites investmentfto sales and consulting services under one roof.
- I work out at least 4-5 times a week, and last year I did climb a mountain. My son was looking at a college in Colorado, so we did attempt to climb a mountain. He and my husband made it a lot farther than I did, but it’s definitely exciting and exhilarating to challenge yourself.
- You start climbing up the mountain, you stop, you take a look at the view and see where you are, see how much farther you can go, and keep going.
- I’ve been working out for something that I’m about to do this up coming weekend climb a total of 888 stairs it’s 45 floors of an office building in downtown Dallas for a fundraiser for lung cancer. So, I’m challenging my self to that.
- My father died early 58 years old, of a stroke, and so health has always been important and so him, as an entrepreneur and health they have to go hand in hand to be able to climb that mountain because you have to keep going and going because when you feel like giving up as an entrepreneur, your customers not responding, you just have to keep going, climbing up that mountain so you can shout from the top of it.
You can listen to the full episode with Pamela J. Goodwin here: Pamela Goodwin – “My Moto is: Never Give up! And the other one is: To Always Find a Way! Those are two that I constantly live by.”
Andy Crestodina is a co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media, an award-winning 38-person digital agency in Chicago.
- Top 10 Online Marketing Experts, Forbes
- Top 50 Marketing Influencer, Entrepreneur Magazine
- Top 25 Content Marketers, Express Writers/Buzzsumo
- Top 10 Social Media Influencers, Social Media Explorer
- I’m married to someone from central Oregon, which is in the Pacific Northwest of the US. It’s a mountainous area; the Cascade Mountains are there. Her father lives on Elk Lake, which is in the shadow of a mountain called The South Sister. We went hiking at the foot of South Sister two years ago. We decided to start walking and see how far we’d get. We weren’t really prepared for it; we didn’t have enough water or the right socks. We weren’t really planning to do it. So, we started up and made it 2/3 of the way in 6 hours or something, then decided we wouldn’t make it, it’s getting too dark and cold. So, that’s a mountain I still need to climb. I will summit the next time I’m there. But when I think of mountains, I think of South Sister. It’s a picturesque mountain overlooking a lake in central Oregon; it’s quite beautiful.
You can listen to the full episode with Andy Crestodina here: Andy Crestodina: “My biggest failure is not helping my clients more, by offering more complete services! It was millions in missed revenue”
“Epilog..”
I hope you enjoined this 3rd part of my ‘Mountains’ episodes .
If you didn’t listen to the first two “Mountain Episodes” you can find them here:
Now you can choose whether and what you would like to do next as a reaction to this episode.
As I see it you have 4 options.
First, you can of course o nothing that has to do with this show, go to do what ever you want or planned or just switch to the next podcast.
Second, you can enjoy the stories, be inspired and take the courage and massive strength needed to take your entrepreneurship to a much higher level than you did in the last few months.
Third, you can choose one or more of the inspiring successful interviewees, their stories you love best, or choose me, to connect, ask questions, find what else you can learn from them (they all have plenty of free very professional content on their sites) or even find out if they can be your mentor if they give that service.
And last, but not least, you can download my free guide for the 7 elements of Entrepreneurial Business Success that will help you make the best plan for the coming months that can help you reach your wishes and goals in the 1st half of 2020.
Next week we will go back to talk with new, fantastic successful entrepreneurs about their story and how they reached entrepreneurial success.
Until next time… Bye, Bye.