Entrepreneur With Street Smarts Not Learned In Business School

by Ron Coury, author of “Tenacity: A Vegas Businessman Survives Brooklyn, the Marines, Corruption and Cancer to Achieve the American Dream: A True Life Story“

If I had to give myself a title or occupation description after four decades of business activity in Las Vegas, I’d call myself an observational entrepreneur, a “niche finder.” With nearly every venture I’ve undertaken, I identified a niche in which we could do things better than they were currently being done. This mindset was easy to execute in a young, growing town like Las Vegas. In the 1970s and ’80s, visionaries willing to go for it found Las Vegas to be a prime setting for fulfilling their entrepreneurial aspirations.

When you can demonstrate a need in any area of industry, your job is to find a cure, believe you can implement it, raise the money to do so, form the team, and make it happen: a new business is born.

Generally, I took up to a year establishing a new venture, running it hands-on, day-to-day, and setting the standards for excellence, before preparing to move on. Moving on means freeing up your time to find

the next challenge, which can only happen if you select the right management team to fill your shoes when you aren’t there. If the company could generate the revenues and profits set under my direct management, the right manager would take over the operation, doing no worse and hopefully better with the foundation I’d established.

How to develop a stick-to-it attitude if what you encounter is initial defeat but you still believe you are right.

In life there are sheep and there are shepherds. The sheep follow the herd, accepting what is determined for them and often find slaughter or a shearing as a result. A shepherd decides the direction and guides his/her future. People who want to maintain control over their destiny must demonstrate some level of perseverance, diligence and the word I selected to entitle my book, “Tenacity“. In many of my life instances, the initial answer from the powers above me was negative. My reply was defiance and an unwillingness to simply accept failure when I knew I was right. 

How to demonstrate a level of diligence, stamina and tenacity that will deliver you to the finish line.

Business owners will hopefully find motivation to be industrious, detail oriented and fearless when they know they are right. With the facts and perseverance on your side, success may not always be assured, but it will often prevail. Even if you fail, you fail knowing you did all you could to achieve your goals. 

How to keep a fear of failure or the acts of corruptive elements from succeeding in defeating you when you know you are right.

I’ve found through personal experience that success in business requires many skills and talents, but none more essential than the core belief of the Marine Corps: “Failure is not an option!” This fighting spirit drives a person to take on life’s challenges with resolve and a refusal to be defeated. Once again, Tenacity! The word exemplifies what overtakes me when someone says “no” or “impossible” to me when I know I’m in the right, or when someone tries to deny me something I’m pursuing, whether it’s starting a business, protecting one I already have, or preserving my liberty and rights as an American.

Tenacity, along with my deeply held values and a strong belief in the American Dream, motivated me to start or purchase eight businesses before I turned 35, as I doggedly pursued my entrepreneurial aspirations. I was also blessed with great partners; we shared a trust, respect, and honesty that enabled me to seek each new challenge and in most cases to prevail in the battle that confronted me.

 

Author of “Tenacity: A Vegas Businessman Survives Brooklyn, the Marines, Corruption and Cancer to Achieve the American Dream: A True Life Story“ Ron Coury has been a casino dealer and a Realtor, as well as a partner in restaurants and gaming bars, major graphics and glass companies, and several automobile dealerships in the western United States. He is currently a board member of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Foundation, as well as several companies and charitable organizations.

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