Thomas Szaky shocked his parents when he dropped out of Princeton University to start his own business venture – extracting organic plant food from worm poop.
And recently he shocked them again by persuading the retail giant Wal-Mart to carry his product. The move is expected to generate sales of $15 million for young Thomas within a year.
Getting Wal-Mart to showcase a product is very hard, and each week hundreds of inventors and product manufacturers are turned down by Wal-Mart. So how did young Thomas manage to persuade Wal-Mart?
“I don’t know!” he says. “I made sixty one phone calls and one of them worked. I guess it was just sheer persistence.”
Action Summary:
- The trick to land the big fish is: be persistent.
- If you want the current industry leaders to endorse and promote you, you need to build the right mental attitude: don’t let No’s deter you.