Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

I began losing my hair when I was 19. By the time I was 21, I looked like I was 30.Best thing that ever happened to me.People take you seriously when you look like a grown-up, and I needed people to take me seriously.I sold advertising for the smallest radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We were rock-solid at number 23 in a city of 23 radio stations. We had a 0.5 share during the Average Quarter Hour. This means that out of every 200 radios that were turned on, only 1 of them would be tuned to my station.Best thing that ever happened to me.At any given moment, my station would have between 500 and 800 people listening. But the total number of different people we would reach in a week was about 18,000. Woo-Hoo! I was overjoyed. There wasn’t a single business in our city of 1,000,000 people that couldn’t use 18,000 more customers.All I had to do is figure out what to say to get my 18,000 people to remember – and prefer – my advertiser. I cannot say with certainty how I knew success would be found in the crafting of a persuasive message rather than in the selection of the “right” audience, but my memory shows me a young boy sitting in an empty classroom reading books during recess rather than playing with the other kids on the playground.Best thing that ever happened to me.Yes, I know I’ve said “Best thing that ever happened to me” three times and they can’t ALL be the “best thing,” but I don’t feel like ranking them “#1 Best,” “#2 Best,” etc., so go with the flow, okay?I restricted my sales calls to businesses that were so tiny they couldn’t afford any advertising other than my little nothing of a radio station. When these people believed in me and wrote me a check, they were giving me their life’s blood. If my plans for them failed, my clients couldn’t pay the rent. They couldn’t send their kids to school with a sack lunch. They couldn’t pay the electric bill.When you face those kinds of consequences, you lie awake at night figuring out how to make the ads you sold work, because there is no one with whom you can share the blame. It’s all you.Guilt, Pain and Remorse are powerful teachers.I quickly figured out how to make advertising work.And what Guilt, Pain and Remorse taught me was very different from what is being taught in colleges.Few marketing professionals will ever be solely responsible for the outcomes of the ad campaigns they help to create. Most people in my profession go to college, get a degree, and then become a cog in a marketing machine. Their failures can be attributed to a wide variety of forces beyond their control. Their ink pens are never filled with the blood of the families for whom they write.My station owner was hoping our little station might bring in about $11,000 a month. Within 18 months, my personal billings were averaging $51,000 a month. My base pay was $800/mo. and I made a 15% commission. Do the math.I spent my early twenties as a joyously married, rapidly balding boy with ten thousand stories in his head and an ink pen full of blood in his pocket. Then, at 26 years old, they made me the General Manager of a much larger station.Worst thing that ever happened to me.I no longer spent my days talking face-to-face with business owners and crafting stories. Instead, I stared blankly at spreadsheets and spoke by telephone with corporate officers and bookkeepers and listened to the whining of 32 employees who had me confused with their mommies.Six months into it, I said, “You can keep the cheese. Just let me out of the trap.”With the unwavering support of Princess Pennie, I became an independent ad writer and media negotiator. I adapted my stories to fit billboards on the highway and TV ads during the Superbowl and websites on the internet.But some things never change. Thirty-four years after saying “no” to spreadsheets and corporate politics, my relationships continue to be one-on-one with business owners, never with the companies they own.I don’t believe in destiny.I believe in choices and consequences.I believe each of us chooses what we become.What have you chosen to become?If plan A isn’t working out for you, consider plan B or C or D!New choices bring new consequences.Isn’t life a wonder?Don’t forget to live it.Roy H. Williams

A thing cannot exist without its opposite. This is why a positive statement – without its corresponding negative – is usually a platitude.1Every proton has its electron.Every summer has its winter.Every Yin has its Yang.Every up, its down.Every inside, its outside.Every justice, its mercy.“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement.But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.”– Niels BohrNiels Bohr was not a philosopher. He was a scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics.Duality, in the form of paired opposites, is essential to high-impact communication.It is not enough to explain what you believe.You need also to explain what you don’t believe.It is not enough to explain what you stand for.You need also to explain what you stand against.I saw you flinch just then. You don’t like “being negative.” Am I right?You believe in abundance.You believe in optimism.You believe in fairness and peace.You sound like a Hallmark greeting card.Now tell me if I’m being “negative.”I stand against poverty.I stand against hopelessness.I stand against bullies.I sound like someone who might actually make a difference.Don’t just tell us what you include.Tell us also what you exclude.Don’t just tell us what you are.Tell us what you are not.“At Kesslers, we do diamonds better, because diamonds are all we do. We don’t sell watches or pearls or gold chains. But we do sell every style of engagement ring that has ever been designed.”“At Goettl Air Conditioning, we do things the right way, not the easy way.”“Jigsaw magnesium is a mineral, not a vitamin. And it delivers real energy, not caffeine energy.”Here’s why photos of you never really look like you:You see your face in the mirror every day. You see photos of yourself only occasionally. But the mirror shows you a reversed image. The “you” that your friends see is opposite the image that you see.If you speak only of what you see from your perspective, you miscommunicate to everyone who sees the opposite.Comprehensive communication always shows both sides:The verse and the inverse.The upside and the down.What’s left in and what’s left out.Do you have the breadth of mind to do this?Do you have the courage?Roy H. Williams

Doubtless, they will someday say, “Inspired by Roycroft and Bohemian Grove, Pennie and Roy Williams built Wizard Academy…”But they will be wrong.Yes, the Princess and I – with the help of hundreds of good friends around the world – began constructing the Wizard Academy campus in 2004. The “wrong” part is that we were inspired by Roycroft and Bohemian Grove.This error is forgivable, however, because jumping to conclusions is what makes us humans so adorable.Elbert Hubbard was a marketer whose magazine, The Philistine, was read by subscribers around the world 120 years ago. Likewise, my Monday Morning Memos and the e-zines of Indiana Beagle are read by subscribers around the world.But Elbert Hubbard did not inspire me to become a marketer or to write these Monday Morning Memos. And I’m pretty sure Indy Beagle wanders the rabbit hole for reasons of his own, as well.Elbert Hubbard published a book on advertising but I did not write my Wizard of Ads trilogy because of him.Elbert and his wife, Alice, began building the Roycroft Campus as a writer’s and artist’s enclave in East Aurora, New York, in 1895. But Pennie had never heard of the Hubbards or their Roycroft Campus when she decided to build Wizard Academy. I know this to be true. I was there.Yet there are definite similarities between our organizations.Wizard Academy bridges the gap between business and the arts. Like the Roycrofters before us, we celebrate the study of the arts for the furtherance of business.*San Francisco’s Bohemian Club began constructing Bohemian Grove in 1878. The “Bohemians” in those days were writers and artists. But business people wanted to hang out with them and were immediately attracted to the club.Oscar Wilde attended The Grove in 1882. Afterwards, he said, “When bankers get together they talk about art. When artists get together, they talk about money.”Think of the annual encampment at Bohemian Grove as the original TED Conference.An invitation to The Grove remains the hardest of all tickets to obtain. Security is incredibly tight. The guests invited to Bohemian Grove today are Nobel Prize winners, top-tier artists and authors, Senators, and Fortune 500 CEOs.Interestingly, Wizard Academy attracts many of these same people, but on a smaller scale.The official motto of The Bohemian Club is a line taken from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here.” It means, “Business deals and any thoughts of ‘networking’ are to be left outside. This is a place of escape.”Like Bohemian Grove, Wizard Academy is a place of escape, renewal, and inspiration for people who wrestle with giants.Do you have a dream, an enterprise, a mission, a purpose that occupies your heart and hands and mind?Come. You have a tribe. Hang out with us. You will be a stronger wrestler when you leave.Roy H. Williams

Trouble happens to everyone.“Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble.”– Carl JungBut don’t worry about it.“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”– George WashingtonReally. Don’t worry about it.“Don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”– Jesus, in the 6th chapter of Matthew’s Good NewsBecause I’ve got this.“In this world you will have trouble. But be of good cheer! I have overcome the world.”– Jesus, in the 16th chapter of John’s Good NewsAnd I’m your friend.“Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.”– EuripidesTrouble is a searchlight in the darkness that shows you a person’s heart.“You never forget three people:the person who helped you in trouble,the person who left you in trouble,the person who put you in trouble.”– Randy PhillipsAnd sometimes that searchlight is reflected back at you.“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”– Theodore RooseveltBut finally, the sun rises, morning comes, and it’s a brand-new day.“Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself the most comforting words of all: ‘This, too, shall pass.'”– Ann LandersRoy H. Williams

“Radio is dying.”“Radio is dead.”“My friends and I don’t listen to the radio. We (blah, blah, blah) instead.”“No one listens to the radio anymore, especially in high-tech places like San Francisco, in the heart of Silicon Valley. That’s right, isn’t it?”Isn’t it?A few paragraphs from now, I’m going to tell you exactly how many people we’re reaching in San Francisco each week and precisely how many times the average San Franciscan hears our radio ad.But first, let’s look at why we can trust those numbers.You’ve heard of the Gallup Poll and you’ve heard of the Nielsen Ratings. And of course, you understand scientific survey methodology and statistical analysis.Nielsen measures San Francisco’s radio listening habits continuously, using a sample size of about 2,400 adults.Oh? You say you don’t understand scientific survey methodology and statistical analysis? You didn’t know the Gallup Poll is usually based on just 1,000 interviews? And that those 1,000 persons represent the entire population of the Unites States with a high degree of accuracy?“How can a poll of only 1,004 Americans represent 260 million people with only a 3 percent margin of error?” This is the name of an article you’ll find in the online archives of Scientific American. In that article, Professor Andrew Gelman of the departments of statistics and political science at Columbia University, says, “The margin of error depends inversely on the square root of the sample size.”This is what Professor Gelman is saying: The smaller the universe, the larger the percentage of that universe must be queried. If you want to know the opinions of a universe of 10 people, you’ve got to ask all 10 of them.The larger the universe, the smaller the percentage of that universe must be queried. To accurately measure the opinions of 700 people, you’ve got to ask 250 of them. But a sample size of only 384 persons will measure the opinions of 1,000,000 people with an identical degree of accuracy.When the Gallup organization wants to get nitpickingly accurate, they crank their sample size up to 1,500 persons. And that’s to measure the whole United States.That Nielsen sample of 2,400 persons in San Francisco isn’t looking quite so small anymore, is it? By the way, the annual report of Nielsen Holdings indicates they had revenues of $6,572,000,000 last year. That’s right. Six and a half billion dollars to monitor our listening and viewing habits.I say “monitor” because Nielsen doesn’t trust our memories or our motives. Nielsen gives each of those 2,400 San Franciscans a small, electronic device to carry with them each day. This “Portable People Meter” detects the radio stations to which you listen, and notes the precise times that you listen to each station, each day. This data is uploaded to Nielsen and serves as the basis of their ratings report.Electronic devices don’t lie.Nielsen’s methodology and math are irrefutable and unimpeachable.I say we can trust Nielsen’s numbers. What say you?We recently negotiated a weekly schedule on the broadcast radio stations of San Francisco. That schedule reaches 43% of the total (18+) population of that city an average of 2.7 times each week, 52 weeks a year, at a total cost of 47 cents per person/per year. This means each of more than 2.5 million San Franciscans will hear our full-length message an average of 140 times in 2018. (52 x 2.7 = 140.4)About 50 percent of America spends enough time listening to the radio each week that you can efficiently and affordably reach those customers with sufficient repetition to become a household word, an intimate component of their daily life.This familiarity accelerates and enhances every other effort at selling; email, online, outdoor, voice-to-voice on the telephone, and face-to-face on the sales floor.In the first chapter of the book of Genesis, it is written 11 times, “And God said…”The only description we are given of God in the book of Genesis is that he spoke a world into existence. But then, in verse 26, it says that we are made in his image.I believe this is why we can speak possible futures into the hearts and minds of other humans. It’s an art we call “selling.” And it works wonderfully well on the radio.It’s okay with me if you believe the Bible is a fairy tale. But if you think Nielsen numbers are a fairy tale, you are in a special kind of denial.Might I humbly and respectfully suggest that you pull your head out of your ass and see the light?That was meant to be a funny, unexpected punch line. If you took it otherwise and it made you angry, I’m sorry. Please say hello to your colon for me.Roy H. Williams

1. When you need someone to faithfully implement your time-tested policies and procedures, hire a straight-A student.This is what we know about them:A. They bought into the educational system, believed its promises, and played by its rules.B. They have demonstrated obedience, compliance, and conformity.C. They have obvious respect for authority.And these are not bad things.2. When you need to innovate, improvise or reinvent, hire a rascal.1This is what we know about them:A. They mistrust the system, laugh at its promises, and make up their own rules.B. They have demonstrated disobedience, defiance, and abnormity.C. They have obvious respect for alternative thinking.Steve Jobs was a rascal with an unimpressive résumé. When Steve applied for a job at Hewlett-Packard in 1977, they rejected him because he had dropped out of Reed College in 1972.“Quitters never win.” That’s the traditional wisdom. Ask any high school football coach. And Steve Jobs was definitely a quitter.Jan Koum was a bonafide rascal. When he was 20, his ex-girlfriend got a restraining order against him. He later said, “I am ashamed of the way I acted, and ashamed that my behavior forced her to take legal action”.Jan Koum was also a quitter. Facebook refused to hire him in 2008 because he had dropped out of San Jose State. Here’s what was on Jan’s resume for the previous year: “I traveled around South America playing ultimate frisbee.”I can almost see that HR director rolling her eyes, can’t you?In 2009, Jan Koum founded WhatsApp, an innovation he sold to Facebook in 2014 for $9.1 billion.Steve Jobs and Jan Koum are mentioned in the opening paragraph of a 59-page study2 published by two academicians in 2017. That paper is titled Asymmetric Information and Entrepreneurship. Its scholarly authors reached their conclusions only after analyzing 12,686 individuals over a period of more than 30 years.I’ll do my best to summarize those 59 pages:“A person is motivated to start their own business when they have more confidence in their ability than they have in their résumé.” – Roy H. WilliamsThere. I’ve put 59 pages into a single sentence.Perhaps I should become an ad writer.Roy H. Williams1 If no rascals are available, you can substitute a rebel, a rogue, or a renegade.2 Hegde, Deepak and Tumlinson, Justin, Asymmetric Information and Entrepreneurship (May 15, 2017). Available for download at SSRN.

When you need people to respond to your ad immediately, you need to think like a reporter.These are the first two things they teach news reporters:“When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.”“You never read about a plane that did not crash.”So why do so many direct-response ads talk about the man who got bit by a dog, or flew on a plane that did not crash? To be successful, direct-response ads must deliver a message that is remarkable.Recruitment Ads are a form of direct-response marketing.Last week, the following 60-second radio ad reached 19 percent of the total population of Charlotte, NC. The average listener heard this message 6.3 times in just 3 days, Wed/Th/Fr. And it cost only seven tenths of a penny per repetition for a listener to hear it. This means that for less than a nickel per person, (6.3 x 7 tenths of a penny) we electrified 19 percent of the total population of Charlotte with a remarkable message. And you know what? The 19 percent we reached are the friends, neighbors and co-workers of the other 81 percent, guaranteed.Are you a plumber? Would you like to make one hundred thousand dollars a year? That’s right. I said a hundred thousand dollars. Can you install new water heaters, faucets and drains? You hear Morris-Jenkins on TV and radio all the time. Morris-Jenkins Plumbing is the sister company of Morris-Jenkins Air Conditioning and they’re both managed by Dewey Jenkins, the man you DEFINITELY want to work for. Our new plumbing division is keeping 30 plumbers busy and we need 10 more who know how to install water heaters, faucets and drains. We need air conditioning installers, too. Many of our A/C installers are already making a hundred thousand, and we’re putting together a plan that will allow our plumbing installers to make that much, too. We want to meet you. This is not a joke. If you’re ready to start the greatest job you’ll ever have, be at Morris-Jenkins headquarters this Saturday Morning at 8AM for a confidential interview. We need 10 plumbers and 6 air conditioning installers. Be here at 8 o’clock this Saturday morning. You’ll find our address at Morris-Jenkins dot com. Your life is about to get a whole lot better. Morris-Jenkins dot com.That’s a pretty remarkable message, right?But just as important as being remarkable, direct-response ads must also be credible and urgent.Remarkable means your message will be repeated from person to person. “$100,000.”Credible means your message is supported by already-known and trusted facts.(A.) Due to their commitment to long-term customer bonding, Morris-Jenkins is universally recognized as the market leader in Charlotte.(B.) Dewey Jenkins is on TV every day and the public LOVES him.(C.) This ad would not have worked nearly so well for a person that was less respected.Urgent means action must be taken immediately, because(A.) the available number is limited, “We need 10 plumbers and 6 A/C installers.” Or,(B.) the window of time is limited. “Be at Morris-Jenkins Headquarters THIS Saturday morning at 8AM for a confidential interview.(C.) Urgency is accelerated through relentless repetition. We ran this ad twice an hour, 24 hours a day, for 3 days, on each of 2 different radio stations. 288 total airings in 3 days.If your direct-response ads aren’t working, there are only three possible shortcomings.1. The ad is not remarkable. People aren’t talking about it.2. The ad is not credible. In other words, it’s hype.3. The message isn’t urgent. There is no need to take immediate action.NOTE: There has never been a direct-response ad campaign that was sustainable in the long-term. Because the longer you repeat a message, the less remarkable it becomes.Direct response – “Take Action NOW” marketing – is different from customer bonding.Customer bonding ads build long-term reputation and relationship. Direct-response ads erode it. This is why you should use direct-response ads with the same restraint you use prescription opioids.Most direct response marketers prefer to target customers online. They talk about “holding your ad dollars accountable with trackable, measurable results.” What they don’t like to talk about is the extremely high cost of generating awareness online, especially when compared to the extremely low cost of creating excitement through old school, mass media.For the record, 164 plumbing and HVAC professionals were standing in line at 8AM on Saturday, April 14, 2018. Were you aware that recruitment is the limiting factor of nearly every plumbing company and HVAC company in America today? No one can find enough people.Do you remember that cost of 7-tenths of a penny (per repetition) for our direct response campaign?When you buy long-term customer bonding schedules, you get a much better deal than that, usually around 4 or 5-tenths of a penny per repetition. This means you can reach a person with a full-length radio ad, 3x each week, 52 weeks a year, (156 repetitions per person, per year) for about 60 to 80 cents per person/per year in most cities.1Compare that with the cost of pay-per-click.Here’s how customer bonding ads differ from direct-response ads:The purpose of customer bonding is to become the provider that people think of immediately and feel the best about when they – or any of their friends – need what you sell. You have to begin reaching them before they need you, and then wait until they do.If you can write a series of messages that will bond the customer to you, you’re on your way to filling your city with corporate ambassadors who will immediately think of you and feel good about you when they, or any of their friends, need what you sell.You don’t need to mention dollar amounts or prices.You don’t have to create urgency.But you do have to make people like you.Long-term customer bonding is the way big brands, and big companies, are built.Learn more about it at Wizard Academy.Roy H. Williams1 These are the typical results of Devin Wright, America’s top media buyer. The average negotiator will pay about twice that price.

Technically, you don’t take a trip. It takes you.If you could take a trip, you could also put it back when you were done with it.But you can’t.Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s talk about Robert and Chris and the trip they took.It was a 1968 tripfrom Minneapolis to San Franciscoon a 1964 Honda Superhawkwith Chris riding on the backbecause he was only 11 years old.When that trip was over, Robert remembered a lot of things that never really happened. And in 1974 those memories became Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the best-selling philosophy book ever written. It stayed near the top of the best-seller lists for more than a decade.I agree with a lot of what Robert wrote.But a little of what he wrote makes me wonder if he was crazy.We’ll talk more about that later.These are the things Robert wrote that I agree with:“You look at where you’re going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you’ve been and a pattern seems to emerge.”“The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure nature hasn’t misled you into thinking you know something you actually don’t know.”“It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top.”“The more you look, the more you see.”“First you get the feeling, then you figure out why.”“We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone.”“When you live in the shadow of insanity, the appearance of another mind that thinks and talks as yours does is something close to a blessed event.”I like that last statement for 2 reasons. (1.) “The appearance of another mind that thinks and talks as yours does” is sort of why Wizard Academy exists. (2.) Is it just my imagination, or have you noticed that the shadow of insanity (and not the good kind of insanity) seems to be growing wider and darker across our land? I’m seeing and hearing things today that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago.One last quote from the book:“But to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or to avoid repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to attack effects rather than causes; and as long as the attack is upon effects only, no change is possible. The true system, the real system, is our present construction of systematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government. There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.”I suppose that’s what worries me most about the dark shadow of insanity spreading across our land. If we remove the people who are casting that shadow – but we don’t change the patterns of thought that elevated them – we’ll replace those people with more just like them.I said earlier that we’d talk about Robert being a little bit crazy.Robert Pirsig was treated with electroconvulsive therapy on numerous occasions when he was institutionalized with paranoid schizophrenia and clinical depression between 1961 and 1963. He was 35 when he got out. His son Chris was 6. They began their road trip 5 years later.At its heart, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is an exploration of the underlying belief systems of Western culture. In his foreword to that book, Robert told readers that despite its title, the book should “in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice.”He added, “It’s not very factual on motorcycles either.”Yes, Robert went crazy for a while.But then he got over it.Perhaps we will, too.Roy H. Williams

We connect with people who interest us.We have fun with people who know how to have fun.We bond with people who believe what we believe.But our deepest relationships are with people who have shared our pain.Think of the people you can count on – always – to have your back. Chances are, you’ve been through hard times with them at your side.Adversity is a whirlwind that tears friends apart if they don’t hold on to each other, but bonds them tightly together if they do.An acquaintance is someone with whom you can laugh.A friend is someone with whom you can cry.I am not suggesting we celebrate adversity.I am suggesting we celebrate our friends.The seeds of commitment are watered by tears.“Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground.”– Oscar Wilde“The thing about rock’n’roll is that for me anyway it wasn’t enough… There were great catch-phrases and driving pulse rhythms… but the songs weren’t serious or didn’t reflect life in a realistic way. I knew that when I got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings.”– Bob Dylan, Divine Madness, p. 166If you want to be persuasive, if you want to convince people, you must abandon the myth that you – or anyone else – is capable of being perfectly objective.We see things not as they are, but as we are.Exactly 4 years and one week ago – during this season of Passover and Easter – I wrote to you about cognitive bias:“You’ve heard it said that, ‘Every person is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.’ Yet we routinely craft our own facts from the fabric of personal experiences, preferences and prejudices. A stereotype is nothing more than a pattern we’ve observed. This pattern isn’t always predictive, but it is a pattern nonetheless and we trust it. We do this in the misbegotten belief that we have correctly interpreted our past experiences and that our preferences and prejudices are, in fact, correct and reliable interpretations of objective reality.”– The Monday Morning Memo for March 24, 2014Preferences and prejudices cannot be trusted.But pain is neither a preference nor a prejudice. And sorrow is hard to escape. To willfully walk into them for the sake of a friend is the signature of someone who cares.Do you have a friend in crisis?Don’t send flowers.Send yourself.Roy H. WilliamsPS – Don’t assume from today’s memo that the wizard is feeling blue. He’s not. It’s just that he and I know a lot of people who need a hug. I’ll bet you know people, too. – Indy BeaglePPS – Leonardo da Vinci clearly understood cognitive bias. He said, “The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.”

The traditional aristocracy of inherited wealth, position and influence is a false one, in my mind.You were born into an influential family. You went to the right kindergarten, the right grade school, the right college, and you party with the right people. You invented the phrase and the wink, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”You are a house cat.You think desperation is an enemy that should be avoided at all costs. But who else can you turn to when you need to clear your mind, focus your thoughts, summon your courage, and unleash your creativity?Desperation will do all of this for you, and more.Desperation is the friend and the ally of every alley cat.Desperation is the mark of every true entrepreneur.Have I angered you? I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention. I was just hoping to encourage those friends who are facing deadly peril, whose options are limited, whose bank accounts are depleted, whose backs are against the wall.That’s never been you? Oh… now I see why you’re angry.You’ve never really had an adventure.In 1992, I helped a friend launch a company that he later sold for $68 million. I can still remember several occasions when his circumstances became so painful that he said he wanted to “curl up in the fetal position.”A few years later, I helped a friend who is brilliant, disciplined, and highly organized. He sees situations clearly and has remarkable judgment. When his company sold for $125 million, I pointed these traits out to him as the reasons his company had thrived. He looked at me very sincerely and without a trace of humor shook his head and said, “No, it was desperation.”“I have often fallen into a doom loop, convinced that I was about to lose everything.” These are the words of a friend whose company revenues are rapidly approaching $1 billion a year.One friend whose net worth is currently more than $2.5 billion speaks of a time 20 years ago when cash was so tight that, “I lived in a tent with my wife and children in the back of our little shop.”These are only 4 of the 400 true entrepreneurs I have known.I’ve never met a self-made person who didn’t have stories of desperation.Stress and trouble are the unmistakable signs of adventure.No stress?No trouble?No adventure.“When we’re safe at home we wish we were having an adventure. But when we’re having an adventure, we wish we were safe at home.”– Thornton WilderDon Quixote saw beauty in Dulcinea when everyone else saw commonness, so he decided to be her champion. And because he was tired of being safe at home, he went looking for adventure. The balance of his epic book are the tales of his battles: his victories and his defeats, his parades and his embarrassments, his glistening moments of accomplishment and his painful regrets. Quixote challenged lions, fought giants, and struggled with adversaries on every side.“And I know if I’ll only be trueTo this glorious quest,That my heart will lie peaceful and calmWhen I’m laid to my rest.”“And the world will be better for this;That one man, scorned and covered with scars,Still strove with his last ounce of courageTo reach the unreachable star.” 1“Scorned and covered with scars…” describes every true entrepreneur.People often ask why I am attracted to Don Quixote. Here is my answer:Don Quixote was a house catwho decided to becomean alley cat.Roy H. Williams