What I Learned About Tenacity From an Entrepreneur Who Had Every Reason to Quit — But Didn’t

I’ve traveled to over a hundred different countries in my life. Many of these places lack the relative comfort and safety of North America. But I’ve also seen this lack of a social safety net drive people to accomplish amazing things.

Nearly everyone in the developing world is an entrepreneur — because they have to be. The problems they deal with on a daily basis are more immediate, so they’re under greater pressure to innovate solutions.

Most North American founders I’ve met are never truly in danger of falling through the cracks. If their startup doesn’t work, most can move back in with the parents who probably paid for them to attend business school.

But in places where failure is not an option, people work harder to make their dreams come true. I’ve seen it more times than I can count — but the clearest example is a man named Juan Carlos, the first friend I ever made outside the United States.

This is his story. I’m sharing it with you to illustrate what he taught me about pushing through obstacles so that you can remind yourself not to give up when you encounter them.

Opportunities will find you if you’re prepared to acknowledge them

At 15, Juan Carlos hitchhiked from Mexico City to the Mayan Riviera because he had heard that was where people went to earn money. When he arrived, he discovered it would be impossible if he didn’t learn English.

So Juan lived on the edge of town, in a hammock, surrounded by dozens of others, making $3 an hour raking seaweed off the beach. He would walk 12 miles to the city’s downtown area every day to eat in a cheap restaurant because it allowed him to save an extra 50 cents.

With the money he saved, Juan Carlos bought an English-Spanish dictionary. He used his spare time teaching himself how to speak English.

On one of his trips downtown, Juan Carlos met a man who was creating astounding street paintings using the soot from a candle to stain canvas. This technique, called “fumage,” produces delicate, ethereal textures in ways no other medium can accomplish.

Juan Carlos knew nothing about painting, but he knew talent when he saw it. He approached the man and announced his intention to start a business with him, selling the paintings to tourists.

The only person who can prevent you from starting a business is you

Of course, having a business idea is only half the battle. Juan Carlos soon realized he would need a place to sell these paintings if he wanted his venture to succeed.

So he traveled to Plaza Caracol, learned who the office manager was, and asked for a meeting with the plaza’s American owner. The manager was dismissive at first, then outright rude when Juan Carlos continued to make requests.

Still, Juan Carlos continued to visit and politely request an appointment. As luck would have it, the owner happened to be on site during one of these attempts and overheard. He quickly stepped in, and despite his office manager’s protestations, listened to Juan Carlos’s proposal.

Juan Carlos’s dedication impressed the owner, especially after learning how long he had been trying to reach him. They made an agreement: The owner would set Juan Carlos up with a space and the equipment he needed to sell the paintings, but would charge him a small amount of rent on principle. It wasn’t greed; it was a sign of respect — a vote of confidence that Juan Carlos’s business would prove to be profitable.

By the time I met Juan, he had eight people working for him to create fumage paintings and could sell them in no less than seven languages. He never gave up, never took no for an answer, and ultimately created his own success.

Tenacity is more valuable for a founder than any amount of connections

I won’t pretend that founders from the developed world don’t have significant advantages over those who grow up in dangerous or impoverished environments. That would simply be a lie.

But one point I’m trying to make with this story is that founders in wealthier countries often squander those advantages. They let the first rejection or minor obstacle stop them dead in their tracks, when the world is full of people willing to work exponentially harder for even a fraction of the success they want.

Most aspiring entrepreneurs in the United States wouldn’t take the time to learn a single new language — let alone seven — if that made the difference between success and failure. And many would avoid following up with a potential partner after being turned away out of sheer embarrassment or hurt pride. What we don’t realize is that it’s a luxury to have these concerns. Embarrassment is not a factor when you’re sleeping outside in a hammock to get your business off the ground.

Most people who achieve real success respect this because they’ve faced challenges of their own. The owner of the Plaza Caracol didn’t give Juan Carlos his chance just to placate him. He did it because he saw his own determination reflected in Juan Carlos’s willingness to keep trying.

I’ve never forgotten what Juan Carlos taught me about tenacity. It’s what drove me to develop my company’s roof restoration product for asphalt shingles at a time when the rest of the industry was focused on selling replacements. It’s what helped me maintain my belief in the value of our company and grow our national dealer network at a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty. In our present moment, as the global economy is being reshuffled yet again, I remind myself that we can never take our success for granted. The rest of the world already understands this; we’re the ones who need to learn from them.