By Maribeth Kuzmeski

One of the issues with hard work is that when we do it, we want and need it to pay off. However, sometimes it doesn’t. This can make us question whether to put time, effort, and money behind a new major initiative or marketing strategy because of the potential of wasted time and no return.

Did you know that Thomas Edison’s inventions of the light bulb and the storage battery were preceded by thousands and thousands of experiments, theories, and hard work before he discovered the successful formula?

Yet, we often find that small firms will give up on a marketing strategy after just one effort (or never start it at all) because what they desire is an elusive, quick fix boost in new business. But when we look at the most successful individuals and businesses, they almost always failed big, spent time and money, and subsequently learned the answer to generating success.

Part of the hard work is spent learning what works, and often that doesn’t happen on the first try. I don’t think any of us are afraid of hard work. We are afraid of wasting our time. But if we don’t try, the success often never comes.