SubscribePrevious entry: Birthing the Elephant
Next entry: Communicating What You Do
Perseverance
posted by Bruce Freeman on Jul 23, 2009 | Comments (31) | Permalink | Trackback URL
Now that I have co-authored a book and written 250 syndicated small business columns, I have to admit that my writing skills were not always an “A”. As a matter of fact, my writing career began at my alma matter, Binghamton University in NY with a “D” in Professor Eugene Vasilew’s writing class (1970). Every time I handed in a paper, there was more red ink than black when Vasilew finished grading it. Professor Vasilew asked me to come up to his office a half a dozen times and worked with me. On the last visit, he informed me that I was getting a D. When I left his office, I whispered SOB under my breath which as we all know stands for Sweet Ole Boy.
A few years back, I received a journalist of the year award from the US Small Business Administration. At that time I was in touch with the Binghamton UniversityAlumni Director, Rose Frierman, about an article. I told her the story of Professor Vasilew and she informed me that he was Professor Emeritus living in SC. I asked for his email and sent Prof Vasilew a note indicating that he deserved some credit. A very warm gentleman with great humility was very flattered and told me the success was all mine, he accepts no credit and all he did was give me a few tips and pointers. I respectfully maintain that he was more of an influence than he may think.
About a year after the award for my column and discussion with the BU alumni director,
my book, Birthing the Elephant is published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House. A press release is distributed.
I receive an email from Prof. Vasilew saying: Dear Bruce: Congratulations on your new book. Had you given this to me during the manuscript stage, I would have been happy to do some free editing. I wrote him back and said—-Gene, Free editing, I was not going to chance a D on my first book. We’ve become good friends.
The moral of the story —-Perseverance. In my opinion, you only fail when you stop trying.
FILED IN: Business Ethics, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, New Thinking, Marketing, Operations, Public Relations, Productivity, Sales, Starting Your Business
Technorati Tags
bruce freeman, marketing, pr, proline communications, public relations, the small business professorPrevious entry: Birthing the Elephant
Next entry: Communicating What You Do
Smallbiz America. The Capital of Main Street.
We provide the knowledge capital and the financial capital business owners need to grow. Listen to our 24-7 Radio Channel by clicking below...
Comments & Trackbacks
I agree with that last statement, “you only fail when you stop trying.” If it wasn’t for Professor Bruce’s professor pushing him to do better, he would’ve settled instead of improving. Now look where he is today.
Often times, students would get discouraged to constantly see a “D” on their paper. If it was me, I would’ve told myself that writing was not for me. To know that Professor Bruce did not get discouraged but instead “ran” with all the pointers and corrections is truly remarkable. We have to look at certain outcomes optimistically and realize that the pointers and advice we receive from our instructors are only to “enhance” us.
What if Professor Bruce never had that Professor who was so tough on grading his papers? He probably would have never learned anything and probably wouldn’t have the skill to write a good book. We always have to find the good and people. And boy, did that Professor Vasilew do you good.
Professor Bruce it seems like your Professor was just pushing you to see how much more he could get out of you. I’m sure with you being a professor yourself you always try to bring the best out of your students. I’m sure it’s also great to see your student succeed in the end.
Prof.Bruce, I agree with your statement “Perseverance.In my opinion, you only fail when you stop trying”. Everyone learns from their own mistakes, and finds out how they can better themselves to succeed the next time around. So many people look at failure as a negative aspect of life, but in fact it is one of the most positive things that could happen to a person. I believe failure is just as much as part of life as success.
Professor Bruce states it perfectly in this article is that you dont need to be perfect in everything you do to achieve a lives goal. As you saw that the professor gave him D’s on his papers but what did he do to fix, he didn’t stop trying he had perseverance and wanted to continue to be the best. As you could see that has worked with all of his achievements now.
You only fail when you stop trying! Now that is a quote to live by. As a college student, I am getting ready to graduate and enter what is so called the “real world”. I have had many aspirations in starting my own business but failing to be quite honest scares me. Sometimes I feel like the easiest way to be is to simply apply for some big company and move up through the ranks with them. But after reading this I have to admit I don’t think I will be doing that. Perseverance is the way to success. You may fail along the road to success but failing only counts if you stop after you fail. You may get a D in class but that doesn’t mean you won’t develop yourself into a journalist of the year award. You may not get a lot of customers in a newly opened business but that doesn’t mean that you won’t grow. You have to keep moving, and stay motivated. Perseverance never fails.
This holds true. It is always important for people to see your face so they know that you are serious about what you are trying to accomplish. Everyone needs to put a face to a name, especially to those who are above you.
Often the people who critique us the most help us out the most. Although the Professor Bruce got a D in the class he may have learned more in that class then a class he received an A in. When you put your mind to something and don’t give up when it becomes challenging you will achieve great success.
You only fail when you stop trying is right. I always tell people to keep trying and never give up. This country was not found by people giving up.I also have to agree with Prof Bruce about teachers. Without knowing , sometimes teachers have a bigger influence on students lives then they really think. Never give up on your dreams. Anything can be done with hard work and dedication. People who are the most critical of your work are often then people who care about you or your work the most.
Without struggle their is no progress (Fredrick Douglas). It is easy to give up or throw in the towel. It like I always tell my nephew who is 11 years old enjoy, what you do, but be the best at what you do. When what you enjoy becomes hard find a way to get through it. Everything is not going to be easy or handed to you. I feel mentor or professor don’t take credit for hard work. They know the road is not easy but with struggle there is progress
i agree 100% about your opinion professor Bruce, you only fail when you stop trying. if everything in life is easy we will be lazy and we will lose our ambition and our dreams, and we won’t realize the value of life. i like your story and i’m sure there is million of stories and successful people like you.
Not everyone is the best at something when they are younger, but as they get older and gain experience, they become better at the something they used to be not so great at. If you have someone that is willing to help you, then that will definitely help you in the long run. Its a good thing that you kept up with your writing because now you have your own book and are doing well for yourself and its a good thing you had such a great professor to help you in the right direction
Prof Bruce you are on point with this one. We all have things we aren’t good at or we can improve on, but what separates some from others is that some try to continue and improve. Perseverance is the key to life, its not about how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up
This is a very good point Professor Bruce. There will be times in everyone life where things will get hard. Work might become stressful. Things at home might not be a happy as they use to be. But youo have to be able to stick it through the hard times so you can get to/ or back to the happy times. Losing is not an option.
You should never give up in life because working hard pays off at the end. Working hard will bring you joy and rewards afterwards. Life is too short these days to just give up so soon.
You only know if you try, I think this was a great story and for a student like me – I can take this as a life lesson. As I finish up this semester and start looking for a real job, I think the one thing that makes me question my 4 years at Kean University is that im not ready to get denied a job. I know that the economy is tough but I really don’t want to bomb an interview or make a bad impression when I go to speak to a company. But your story is very true. I cant let my fears of getting denied stop me from applying myself and putting myself out there. You only fail if you can not get yourself back up, so I will continue to try and hope to see some opportunities this spring! Perseverance is key to a successful life.
I think a lot of people can relate to this story. Everyone has had a teacher who pushed them harder so they could be a better student. I definitely agree with Professor Bruce you only fail when you stop trying. That is very true with perseverance you can do anything you put your mind to.
I couldn’t agree more with the moral of this story. It applies to all aspects of life. I always think of Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb. He failed 1,000 times before he was able to make a working light bulb. He didn’t see it as failing 1,000 times just as 1,000 ways not to make a light bulb. Just keep doing what you’re doing and never quit because that’s when you fail.
I think that success in life depends all on you mental attitude. If you get discouraged by failures, the chances are you will not amount to anything great in life. On the other hand, if you treat your mistakes as steps in the process toward getting to your goal then you will almost certainly succeed. Professor’s Bruce story is a very good example of that.
In business you really need to be persistent. Not everyone is going to like you idea and if you get discouraged you may never get to the person who might give you your big break. As they say when one door closes another one opens. Its really great that you didn’t give up.
So true Professor Bruce, you only fail when you stop trying. A person should all was keep on trying, don’t let anyone hold you back. If it wasn’t hard work the end wouldn’t be as rewarding as it is.
I actually had a similar experience to this post, though not to the same degree. While in high school I had an English teacher who was known for being the harshest grader and I had the pleasure of having him two years in a row. I also have the right to say that I worked extremely hard in that class and deserved the grades I got. It was an added bonus when I attended Kean University my freshmen year I was the best writer in my class Language Arts class. I credit my high school teacher for giving me the discipline needed to write a great paper.
I agree with you 100% professor Bruce. Sometimes students such as myself need to take the advice to never give up and keep trying until you succeed, because sometimes after a bad grade students tend to drop classes or slack without showing any effort.
I think failing is good thing. Every so often someone has to fail if everyone succeeded then improvements would never be made on existing items. A example is leeches work in medicine for hundred of year until many medical breakthrough came about. We still be using leeches unless some one fail to cure a ailment with it. Breakthorugh come from the ability to fail and proceed onwards.
I completely agree with the last statement. One who perseveres never truly fails in my eyes
I agree with you professor Bruce. I think anything worth learning is going to require hardwork. and the only way to get better at something is to keep trying. When you give up is when you fail
There is only two ways I know of to improve at something and they are to correct your mistakes and keep trying. It seems like that’s exactly what you did Professor Bruce. A grade on your paper didn’t discourage you from writing and you realized how his corrections however annoying they may have seemed at the time may help you. Sometimes it’s hard to see how things will help you far down the line but the only way to have a chance at getting better is to keep trying.
this could be a very inspiring story to someone just like yourself. im sure there are many people with great ideas but are not the greatest writers. this may discourage them. but if they knew a bout perserveranve, they might think anything is possible and it is.
I believe failure and losing is a needed necessity to teach us the things needed to be done in order to win. As the old addage goes ‘you gotta learn how to crawl before you can walk’.
There is no need to be focusing on our grades only. What’s more important is the knowledge that we gain. We should learn on our mistakes instead of thinking about our failure.
Well saidabercrombie milanoYep whatabercrombie fitch milanogood for the goose is good for the ganderabercrombie and fitch milanonice postabercrombie italiaI second albertacowpoke’s questionabercrombie fitch italiaWell, it should beabercrombie and fitch italiaGreat idea.abercrombiesuch a person should be a good sentence,abercrombie fitch will be happy to beabercrombie clothingproved wrong with this one…..abercrombie onlinebut having done survival training during my Army days,abercrombie londonI have to admit to aabercrombie fitch londonraised eyebrow with this as well.abercrombie & fitch londonThe first one is very nice
What do you think?
Commenting is not available in this section entry.