My first business out of high school was a limousine service. At just 19 years old I had secured a deal to buy a limo that needed work and I had the talent to fix what needed fixing. Most people would think that this would have been the impossible challenge for a 19 year old kid, but getting insurance was a mountain to be moved.
Insurance companies required limousine operators to be at least 25 years old, heck, I couldn't even rent a car at 19 years old! It took contacting over 30 insurance carriers to finally get to one that said yes, they would insure my company! Finally, I would be in business.
Refusing to accept the answer “no” allowed me to accomplish what everyone else, including the “experts” said was not possible. Many times, when others say it's not possible, they really mean they've never seen it done!
I even got the same rates that everyone else did, without surcharge for my age. The insurance launched me into business, and the insurance company made pure profit as I never filed a claim.
During this time, there was not one person that encouraged me to keep pursuing this dream, in fact, everyone I knew thought it was not possible and wanted me to give up until I was of the right age.
Fortunately, I believed in myself, and that was all I needed. Had I believed in anyone else, I would have proven them right. As long as you believe in yourself, anything is possible, but the moment that you need someone else to believe in you, is the moment that possibilities become limited.
I've learned the hard way, needing someone else to believe in me is the point that I shouldn't be doing what I'm doing. Without inner belief, possibilities become liabilities.
Your belief in yourself makes the impossible—possible…