The hard stuff, it's hard. And it's hard on purpose because the easy stuff, we seldom ever learn anything from it. We practically never, ever learn anything of value when it comes easy. But the hard stuff, the hard stuff we remember for the rest of our lives. We oftentimes will tell the stories of when we had roadblocks, when we had to learn a tough lesson. And if we paid attention, it brought us to a new and different opportunity and oftentimes success.
Recently, I had an opportunity to spend extra time in my car that allows me to connect to Spotify. So, I was listening to a wide variety of music, some I had not listened to for years. And because of my age and when music meant a lot to me during my teenage years, I reverted back to the 1970s and I enjoyed, yes, I enjoyed an hour listening to Barry Manilow music.
The interesting thing about Barry Manilow, still alive today at the age of 82. He is estimated to have a net worth of over $500 million. He did quite well. But long before the fame and fortune, Barry was doing the hard work most people never see.
He began making money to get by playing the piano for other singers. But a big part of his early income came from creating jingles. He wrote many jingles for Dodge, a jingle for a toilet bowl company called Boline (titled “Bathroom Bowl Blues”), the iconic Stridex acne medicine ad, the Band-Aid jingle “I am stuck on Band-Aid, ’cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me,” and yes—even the legendary “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” For that last one, he received a flat fee of just $500.
Think about that. A jingle we’ve all heard for 50 years, worth millions in value, and he earned a one-time payment of $500. Yet he kept going.
Those hard years taught him tenacity. They taught him grit. They taught him to just keep on going, no matter how difficult it was, and to keep trying to pay the bills. But they also taught him how to write songs that people would actually buy—songs that would hit the Billboard charts. Because if he could convince people to buy a product through a jingle, how much more could he get them to buy his records?
You and I will never have the money that Barry Manilow has, and we will never be that famous. But in our own worlds, if we can just stay focused, if we can just do the hard stuff, just keep at it, we can be successful in our own world with the job that we’ve decided to do—no matter what that job is. Whether it’s a teacher, an electrician, a plumber, or a financial professional, it’s all about doing the best job that you can possibly do.
Keep your nose to the grindstone, even during those times that it seems like there is not success coming your way. It’s about showing up each and every day, putting on your best, doing your best. And even though we fall short a lot of the times, expect your best.
This is our mindset here at the Financialoscopy® office, and hopefully the mindset that you have as well. Because if you have those same values, we want success for everyone that we work with, and we want success for you.
So, if we are of the same mindset, then perhaps it’s time for you to schedule your Financialoscopy® and maybe we’ll sing that Barry Manilow song together: “Looks Like We Made It.”