Meeting Chris Myers, the creator and owner of Far Corner, a
holding company, was such an eye opening experience. He is the definition of an
entrepreneur. He gave me so much advice and so many lessons that I can use for
the rest of my life, in all aspects of my life.
With
a personal philosophy of “opportunity is everywhere,” Mr. Myers really has a
keen eye for seeing a need, and filling it. When discussing opportunity and the
importance of just opening your eyes and looking for opportunity, he told me to
“never stop asking. If someone says no, find a different way to ask.” Asking
for something is a great way to create opportunities for yourself, something he
really made clear to me. Mr. Myers and I talked for a little over two hours,
and I learned so much from him just in that short period of time. Even though
he is clear cut entrepreneur, who even started his own dry cleaning business in
college, he didn’t always think of being an entrepreneur as a career—
“I realized being an
entrepreneur is a profession…I used to not think that. If you are truly an
entrepreneur, it is a career. I think it is a state of mind of seeing a need,
rallying resources to meet the need, constantly adjusting and refining, and
empowering people to fill the need, and eventually filling the need for
profit.”
When I explained to him how impressed I was with all his success
and all the business he has created through Far Corner, he said “I really enjoy
creating opportunities for people and watching them succeed,” and you can see
it in the way he handles his business that he means it. With all of Far Corners
companies on the same floor of the building, it makes it easier for each person
in charge of a company to really be a part of a bigger team—the Far Corner
team. When I asked Mr. Myers why he not only created a publishing company, but
a transportation company, wholesale company, etc, he said “I enjoy the synergy
between the businesses and enterprises.” He really made it clear that he thinks
its beneficial to be apart of every aspect of the process. Not only does he
publish the books, but has a company to transport the books, and a company to
sell the books (along with quite a few other very impressive companies).
One
of my biggest questions for Mr. Myers was what motivates him to keep creating
more companies, and to continually innovate his work. He said the motto around
the office is “create assets that help other assets that we have, to create
more assets.” To me, that is such a great tangible example of continuous
innovation.
My
favorite lesson that I took away from this meeting besides “never give up
asking” and to take baby steps in the business aspect of my life, was that
failure is not necessarily failure. Mr. Myers defined failure as something that
just doesn’t meet your expectations.
He really made it clear that you need to learn how to manage and to really keep
things in perspective. A lot of times people set a timeline for their goals,
and he made it clear that he could not disagree with that more, because it
really is so tough, and often leads to you feeling like a failure. I really
took this to heart because I have always put a timeline on my goals, but he
made me realize that in the long run, when I reach my goal is not important…its
actually reaching the goal that is.
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