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Writer's pictureCharlie Brown

My Secret Formula for Success

Updated: Oct 30, 2022



My Secret formula for success!


Ready? Better sit down for this one:


Make more mistakes.


I learned this lesson when I opened two ladies boutiques, and named them Oh Charlie.

It didn't take too long to realize I would probably never again cross the bridge into retail.


But this wasn't my first big mistake. Forty years ago, I started my own clothing line I named Avanzare, which means to go forward' in Italian. At the time It seemed like a great idea. But the only thing going forward were my losses -- three-quarters of my savings, gone! After my loss, a friend told me I should have named it... "I'll-Be-Sorry".

But today this mistake is one of my favorite success stories!


In 1958, Henry Ford developed a new automobile, and named it after his son, Edsel.

What seemed like a good idea at the time, turned out to be a big flop, costing Ford Motor Company over $250-million in losses.

No matter what you do, you will probably never make a mistake that expensive.


Thomas J. Watson who founded IBM, was once asked his secret to success:

"It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you will find success."


But be careful: A mistake repeated more than once is a decision.


"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing"


As I always say: "You can fail your way to success!"

. . . all my mistakes have proved my point!


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