Only the Crazy and Fearless Win BIG!: The Surprising Secrets to Success in Business and in Life

165 Pages·2012·0.89 MB·English

by  Arthur Wylie

ONLY THE CRAZY AND FEARLESS
WIN
BIG!
THE SURPRISING SECRETS TO SUCCESS
IN BUSINESS AND IN LIFE
ARTHUR WYLIE
WITH BRIAN NICOL
Copyright © 2011 by Arthur Wylie All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in
any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles or reviews.
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wylie, Arthur.
Only the crazy and fearless win big! : the surprising secrets to success
in business and in life / Arthur Wylie with Brian Nicol.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-935618-85-0
1. Success in business. 2. Success. I. Nicol, Brian. II. Title.
HF5386.W957 2011
650.1—dc23
2011039148
Editing by Brian Nicol
Copyediting by Rebecca Logan
Cover design by Faceout Studio
Text design and composition by Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.
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CONTENTS
Introduction
1. SETTING THE STAGE
Vision
Planning
Execution
Marketing
Networking
Dealing with the Unknown
2. THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE
An End Around
Half Off
On the Ropes
My Take
3. BRAND NAMES
Like a Virgin
Court of Public Opinion
Reinventing the Wheeler
My Take
4. AGAINST TYPE
In from the Cold
Charity Write-off
A Woman’s Place
My Take
5. THE RIGHT THING
Per Diem
Truth or Consequences
Sweating the Small Stuff
My Take
6. THINKING BIG
Ultimate Train Set
Face Time
A Leap of Faith
The Original Greeter
My Take
7. BY DESIGN
His Own Devices
Brick and Mortar
Multidimensional Man
My Take
8. SWING AND A MISS
Gull Doors
Circumnavigator
Merging Traffic
Changing the Formula
My Take
9. PERSONAL PASSION
CEO Coach
Shaping Up
Mirror Image
My Take
10. YOUR TURN, YOUR STEPS, YOUR FUTURE
The Vision Builder
Power Planning
Learning Tool for Execution
Learning Tool for Marketing and Networking
Learning Tool for Dealing with the Unknown
The Crazy and Fearless Persona Builder
11. WELL SAID
Postscript
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
INTRODUCTION
Detroit?! Michigan?! Industrial has-been. Urban wasteland. The Big Three
on life support. Crime out of control. Unemployment through the roof.
Neighborhoods abandoned. Politicians dishonest and corrupt. The city that lost
25 percent of its population from 2000 to 2010. That Detroit, Michigan?!
Yes, said my real estate advisor, that’s the one. It was late 2009, in the throes
of the Great Recession, and my advisor was recommending I build my movie
studio complex in the Detroit area, in Allen Park on the city’s edge. Before I
could lodge my protests, he rattled off the benefits of the property: buildings and
warehouses already there, including a jail and a courthouse perfect for filming,
and a cafeteria and classrooms—a film school even. More than a hundred acres
—it could be the biggest studio in the country.
But it’s Detroit! Did he think I was crazy?!
Well, apparently I am. Because the next day I was at the site, being shown
around by city officials, and within two weeks we were on the property. My
Hollywood production company, Global Renaissance Entertainment Group,
moved its headquarters to Allen Park and established the Wylie Institute for the
Study of Entrepreneurship and Wylie Studios. Six major films were soon slated
to be made at the new facility within the coming three years. Arthur Wylie, the
self-made business mogul from North Carolina, had put his money and
reputation on the Detroit area. Detroit, the recession’s ground zero, where four-
bedroom houses were listed for $5,000 and still weren’t selling, the place
nobody wanted to move to and many wanted to abandon, if only they could.
A logical move? A smart decision? Maybe not at first blush. But my fearless
and crazy instincts told me to go ahead, to strike the deal. In fact, a few of my
business colleagues who admired the decision called me “fearless.” Many more
shook their heads and called me “crazy.” But that decision (like this book) was
based on the fact that sometimes the best decisions you’ll ever make are fearless
or crazy—or both.
Those hookers and pimps and garbage and guns I imagined everywhere on the
streets of Detroit? Not so much. The city is recovering and reinventing itself.
Major redevelopment projects are springing up. The downtown is revitalized and
renewed. The auto industry is back with a vengeance. Detroit even promoted
itself creatively during the 2011 Super Bowl and has continued since then with
Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” commercials.
It seemed like a good time to hang up my shingle in the Motor City.
And for this fearless and crazy entrepreneur, the story gets even better. The
state of Michigan welcomed filmmakers with open arms and a fistful of dollars.
It had some of the most generous film industry tax incentives in the country, with
a refundable tax credit of up to 42 percent for production expenses. That means
if I made a $10 million movie in Michigan, I would get back as much as $4.2
million after completing the film. Now that’s an incentive. I got so excited that I
told my team, “We’re not going to Michigan just to make movies; we’re going to
make history!”
Arthur Wylie fearless and crazy? You bet—all the way to the bank.
I’m not unique, of course, and that’s the message of this book. The first
question I ask any mega-successful person I meet is, “What’s the craziest or
most fearless thing you ever did to make money?”
Do they think my question rude, intrusive? Not at all. In fact, they can’t wait
to tell me. And as you might expect, their answers vary widely. Yet the things
these entrepreneurs have in common are striking. What I notice about these
people is this:
They never settle for being just good enough.
They take advantage of opportunities they are passionate about.
They always start with small goals and build to something big.
They take chances even when the rule book tells them to play it safe.
They listen to their gut, not to what others say is proper and prudent.
Some of the most successful people I know—most of them, in fact—are
prouder of the fearless and crazy things they’ve done than they are of all their
logical, orderly, rational decisions.
Setting up shop in the Detroit area wasn’t my first fearless and crazy decision.
Far from it. In fact, I got my start by making such decisions. I began what