I know what you’re thinking. Jim, you briefed the President? Right ….

Well folks, it’s true. And it all started with one characteristic that no entrepreneur can succeed without: being prepared.

Back when I was in college in 1969, I was the engineer from Purdue University selected to be a part of the White House Fellows Program. Once they found out I was interested in material handling, they assigned me to the U.S. Post Office, where I worked three times a week. 

At this time, the post office was transferring over to an independent agency, described by the Kappel Commission. These documents were about 18 inches high, but I figured if I was supposed to know anything about it, I had better read the whole thing.  I read it from front to back, and I even created an index for myself.

Eventually, the Postmaster General had a meeting where he provided an explanation of the Kappel Commission, which I found wasn’t entirely accurate. I showed him my notes after the meeting and ended up with an appointment in his office the next day. He was impressed by how prepared I was and even asked for a copy of my index.

The next day, I get a call from the Postmaster General himself. “Jim, it seems to me that you know more about the Kappel Commission than I thought, so will you come help me brief the President.” And that is how my preparation for a meeting that I wasn’t even involved in led me to personally briefing President Nixon.

And this rare accomplishment was achieved by going the extra mile.

My advice to budding entrepreneurs is this: Think about the next meeting. Who is going to be there? What questions are they going to ask? Why will they ask these questions? What are the objectives? What might the objections be? How do we explain the value?

Think. Think. Think. There’s no such thing as too much preparation. (Read more about the other 22 traits of a successful entrepreneur in this article that I recently wrote.)

When has being prepared led you to accomplish something great? What other qualities do you find essential to being a successful entrepreneur?

Go! Go! Go!

Jim

Photo Credit: Zena C