We learn from losing.

 “I was working in a public relations firm, and a partner of mine got a call to help with a presentation training gig for EHDD. They were going after the Fresno State Library project. So, we flew down to Fresno and went straight from the airport to the presentation room and started working.

We worked with the team for about 2-1/2 or 3 hours, and then I just kinda started taking over. I had never done presentation training before in my life, but by the end of the day I was doing the entire thing.

And my partner just turns to me and says “John, I’m catching a flight home. You go ahead and finish this.” So, I worked with the lead architect, Duncan Ballash, and his team of about six people, representing three different firms, and it was great.

We lost that project.

I was just devastated. And I thought, ‘Well, we tried, and maybe I’m not that good at this,’ but I knew I was good at it. I could tell just by the way I was working with people, with their language, with their bodies, all of it, I knew what to do.

We reeled off nine straight wins…

Duncan called me back three months later, and we reeled off nine straight wins, just about a billion dollars’ worth of projects.

That’s when I knew I had a business.”