Entrepreneurs hear a 'yes' in 'no,' executive says

Thomas Harrison believes that entrepreneurs see and hear things that others do not.

But it's not a sign of a problem. It's a sign of potential success.

Speaking Friday at the Utah Technology Council's annual meeting, the chairman and chief executive officer of Diversified Agency Services said one example is what entrepreneurs hear when someone else says, "No."

"Every entrepreneur that I have ever met, every successful person that I have ever met, has really understood that the word 'no' means 'not now,' and I just haven't given you enough information to convert that 'no' into a 'yes.' What I know when I hear the word 'no' is I'm one 'no' closer to getting the 'yes' I actually want," he told a crowd of about 170.

Harrison, whose company is a holding group of marketing services companies and a division of the Omnicom Group, even cited one potential client who turned him down 24 times before finally doing an about-face.

Successful people also can envision themselves in the positions they want to attain, he said, describing it as people "painting themselves into a picture of success."

"My point is, every one of us in this room has to paint that picture of success," Harrison said. "Like I said, if you want to make million (dollars), you've got to do it in your mind first. Before you can be successful, you have to see yourself baking cookies or running a business or working for someone else or whatever it may be. … If we paint that picture, we'll all be more successful tomorrow than we are today."

Entrepreneurs also see risk as opportunity, he said.

Those are among the ways people can counteract whatever shortcomings they have received in the "genetic lottery," he said.

"So paint a picture, take a risk and when you hear the word 'no,' get really excited because it actually means 'yes,' " he said. "That's kind of three of these things that entrepreneurial and highly successful people think about and really practice to counterbalance what we've been given in that lottery."

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