Every once in a while, you come across something that takes you completely by surprise. I have never been one to watch American Idol or "Britain’s Got Talent" (it’s precursor). A friend of ours fired this up on YouTube tonight and it really took my breath away.
Paul Potts is an everyday, middle class guy from the masses in England who sells mobile phones and plans. He is not handsome nor athletic as are many Idol winners. He is unassuming and the last thing you expect from him is opera. But, what a performance he puts on (he eventually won this year’s contest and will perform for the Queen of England).
This is what entrepreneurship is all about. It’s about having a dream, even if you are the only one who believes in it. It is about surprising breakthroughs coming from the most unexpected places and it’s about the fact that success can come from everyone if they figure out their talent. Enjoy…
Simply amazing – it’s why you (we) need to keep dreaming.
I’m also a fan of that clip and the Paul Potts story. I dug around a little on UK websites, and as Paul Harvey would say, there is a “rest of the story.”
Mr. Potts had a talented voice and won a local singing contest years before this. He then took his savings and spent 30K pounds (about $50K dollars) and went to master opera (with Luciano Pavarotti) training in Italy. He shortly thereafter had a car accident, derailing his singing plans and making him get a job selling cell phones as his “day job.”
On the one hand, that info takes away a little of the fairy tale aspect of his performance. The man knew he had a talented voice and invested in it. Still, you have to root for the guy, who clearly was nervous and must have borrowed that suit (sleeves too long) for the performance.
On the other hand, it does fit the entreprenuer’s need for persistence. You get derailed, maybe cash flow forces you to do something else to get by, but you don’t give up the dream to get back to your “startup.” Persistent people do what it takes, take detours when forced to, but return to chasing their goal.
Breathtaking!!! i am personally going to keep this to see in the “down” moments of my entrepreneurial life.