28. He refused to quit
The rewards for those who persevere far exceed the pain that must precede the victory.
Ted Engstrom
I’ve learned a lot about the magic of commitment from my good friend, Jerry Gladstone. In 1986, Jerry started his own company, American Royal Arts, selling a variety of collectibles.
One year later, he decided to concentrate on selling animation art. He secured licenses with Warner Brothers, Hanna Barbera and other, smaller studios. But he realized that to really grow his business, he needed to sell Disney art.
For three years, he wrote letters and called Disney headquarters requesting permission to sell Disney art. Each time, he got the same answer from Disney: NO.
That didn’t stop Jerry. He kept contacting Disney executives.
One executive finally had just about all she could take of Jerry. So she told him, in a voice and tone reminiscent of Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, the evil queen from Snow White and Cruella DeVil from Dalmatians all rolled into one, “You’ll never get a Disney license!”
Time to give up, right? Not Jerry! Through all these rejections, he kept a great attitude. He called more executives at Disney. And then one gentleman at Disney, hoping to get rid of Jerry once and for all, said, “Well, the only two places we would consider allowing a gallery offering Disney artwork to open would be either Minnesota or Massachusetts.”
Jerry’s business was in New York, and he had no desire to open a gallery in a remote location. Guess what Jerry did? He flew to Boston the very next day. And by the end of the day, he had signed a lease for a place on Newbury Street in Boston!
He called the Disney executive to report that he had the Massachusetts location. They both had a good laugh. And then the executive said to Jerry, “If you had the courage to go up to Boston the next day and open a place just like that, we have to put you on the Disney program.” Within a few weeks, Jerry opened the Boston gallery featuring the Disney line.
Within a year, he was given permission to market the Disney line through his New York store. Jerry has now done business with Disney for 10 years. He has sold millions of dollars of Disney art and is the largest volume Disney animation art dealer in the world!
Talk about commitment... talks about keeping a good attitude in the face of rejection! Jerry was going to get the Disney license no matter what it took. Just ask Jerry, and he’ll tell you “in a New York minute” that attitude is all!
Next: As long as it takes
