Martha Stewart is the founder of the magazine Martha Stewart Living and of the wedding magazine Weddings, among many other projects. She is a woman with a clear entrepreneurial streak, a love of cooking and a fine sense of humour, which is part of her philosophy of life.
On an earlier occasion Stewart said that success doesn’t always arrive the way we expect, and that reading stories of successful entrepreneurs can make us think life is linear, when in reality we take three steps forward, two back, one forward and three back. Rarely in life, or in business, do we follow a steady upward line. It’s probably a lot like shares on the stock market: even the ones in a strong uptrend have their corrections.
For Martha, the recipe for success in business is like an omelette. To make an omelette you need only four ingredients: eggs, butter, salt and pepper. Afterwards, if you like, you can top it with a sprig of parsley. Once it’s clear that the omelette stands for success and we have the ingredients to achieve it, we have to start at the beginning. Whether you want to make an omelette or succeed in business, the first thing you have to do is break the eggs.
The broken eggs stand for sacrifice. To succeed you’ll have to give up a lot of things at first: time with family and friends, even hours of sleep and your favourite TV series. That’s why you need to do something you’re passionate about and have a very clear goal of what you want to achieve, so that the sacrifice is worth it.
Martha says that when magazines have written about her to explain her success, she has put herself in the reader’s shoes and feels that they don’t reflect the sacrifices she really made from a very young age. In her words (translated here from the Spanish version):
The reader may think it was easy, but in fact it wasn’t easy at all. I had to work very hard and make a lot of effort to get my university degree. I had a scholarship, but not a full one. In my first year I lived in the apartment of two elderly widows, and five days a week I was at their disposal in exchange for my room. After that year I had to work long hours to earn some extra money and pay the rent and everyday expenses.
It took me a while to understand the value of hard work (the broken eggs), of opportunity, and of the satisfaction of finally reaching the goal. The day I graduated, I took my first three steps forward. The sacrifice had been worth it, although the obstacles weren’t over.
After breaking the eggs (sacrifice), you have to whisk and keep whisking. Perseverance matters.
My first business idea was the magazine Martha Stewart Living, and whatever people may say, it wasn’t an instant success: some publishers turned it down (two steps back). I got to know frustration and disappointment, but then I had another great idea, Beautiful Living, which the publishers did like. It was my first success, and I used it to carry out my original idea. That was my biggest business project (five steps forward).
You learn that life will inevitably throw some lemons at you, but it doesn’t matter, because in time you learn that when life throws you lemons, you pour three cups of lemon juice, two cups of superfine sugar, four cups of water and some crushed ice. Drink it, and it will give you enough energy to keep going.
Always persevere and stand up for your ideas. Be flexible, but never give up, however many difficulties come your way. Success rarely arrives when, how and in the form you expect, but if you persevere, it gets there in the end.
One last piece of advice: after all the hard, steady work, take the time to enjoy your success with your family and friends. You deserve it, and so do they for supporting you.
Further reading
- Donald Trump: the entrepreneur’s mindset
- Six lessons from sport that apply to business
- Relax this summer, but don’t stop having great ideas
Featured image: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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