Entrepreneur Daily Why persistence matters most

Dear Entrepreneur,

You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room. You don’t have to be the best-connected, or best-financed, or best-anything. But here’s what you do have to be: You have to be the most dogged. You have to be relentless. Persistent. Unyielding. When everyone stops, you have to keep going. That’s the essence of entrepreneurship: It’s about surviving enough failures to finally get it right.

I share this for two reasons: One, we all need to be reminded of it. Our days are hard. Setbacks are inevitable. It’s all part of the journey, and our task is to keep journeying. And two, I say it because I love stories of persistence… and on the cover of our June issue, we’ve got a unique one. It’s the tale of how Hollywood legend Michelle Pfeiffer became an accidental entrepreneur. She saw a problem she wanted solved, and realized that it would only get done if she did it herself… and many difficult years later, she has something great to show for it. I hope it inspires you to keep pushing in your own way. See you at the finish line. (Kidding: There is no finish line!)

She wanted the fragrance industry to be more transparent. The fragrance industry said no. So the actress took matters into her own hands.