Super Fired-Up & Focused

Super Fired-Up

& Focused

Clint Crowster

Super Fired-Up

& Focused

Copyright © 2018 Clint Crowster

Published by Clint Crowster Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Clint Crowster

[email protected]

Foreword

Sir Richard Branson once said, If you are an entrepreneur and your first venture wasn’t a success, welcome to the club!

The club of people who have made mistakes and failed is a large one. The club of people who have made mistakes, learned from them and then tried something different, is a considerably smaller one, because it’s what we do after we have failed, that determines our success as entrepreneurs and as people.

During my tenure as Minister of Economic Opportunities, I met people from both clubs. So many people who have failed refrain from asking why they failed, as blame is rather directed at the government or the banks for not funding them, or the public for not supporting them. But I’ve also met captains of industry and people who had little more than a good idea and the drive to make it happen. Their distinction lay in their focus. Always on the end goal, never on the hurdles they encountered along the way. That was the key to their success.

Research has shown that the majority of small businesses in South Africa fail within the first year. Securing their membership in Sir Richard Branson’s club of first time failures. AskOsca became a success, purely because Clint did not allow those first, difficult months in business to deter him. The goal was to take his product to market, and even though he had to return to the drawing board a few times, he got there.

Life is a succession of choices. By acknowledging that we are human and will therefore fail, at some point, at any given time, we allow ourselves the freedom to try again. By choosing not to give up, we choose to succeed. So, as a final message to fellow South Africans: when someone is brave enough to risk and fail, celebrate the effort by congratulating them on the guts and determination displayed, rather than ridicule the process. The support of others is a critical ingredient for success.

Mr Alan Winde (MPP)

Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament

Provincial Minister of Community Safety

Former Provincial Minister of Finance, Development and Tourism

Preface

I did not attempt to write this book because I’ve arrived or because I’ve made it as a successful entrepreneur. I wrote this book because I want it to be a potential catalyst for those who believe that where they are right now is probably where they’ll be in the next 5, 10 or 20 years.

Twenty years ago, I believed there were no other opportunities for me. Twenty years ago, it seemed as though being a Call Centre Agent was the only opportunity I will ever have and that all the dreams I had before, were a distant memory.

With this book, I hope to demonstrate and articulate how quickly you can change your life when you change your perception. A change of outlook, leads to a change of heart, which changes your outcome, if you’re fired-up and focused enough. No, make that super fired-up and focused enough! When you choose to rise from any situation, you empower yourself to create more opportunities, dream new dreams, and set new goals for your life. You can create the opportunities, dreams and goals that inspire you and others around you. You can be better, bolder and able to achieve more.

The title of the book is part of a war-cry I created for one of the teams I managed at a major Business Process Outsourcer, in Cape Town, South Africa. War cries in the outbound contact centre space are designed to evoke positive energy amongst co-workers. It is designed to fuel positive outcomes on all sales calls, much in the same way that the Haka inspires the All Blacks before