You’ve probably heard the saying “patience is a virtue.” I hate that quote!
Anytime someone preaches to me about the virtues of being patient – which is quite often – I like to reply by parroting Abraham Lincoln’s line: “Things will come to those who wait, but the things left by those who hustle.” Now, I love that quote!
It was once reported in the press that I called the previous owner of the Philadelphia 76ers fifty times before the ownership deal was finally consummated in 1996. And they were probably right. But that number is dwarfed by the countless number of telephone calls, emails, pitches and follow up meetings I’ve had with executives at cable behemoths, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, to realize my new dream of creating a cable network entitled Homes.TV.
Think of Homes.TV as the MTV of real estate. It’s a channel exclusively dedicated for real estate buyers, sellers, and enthusiasts. A channel programmed to be informative, entertaining, and transactional. And a channel that would be the first tier of a multi-platform network where content is distributed not only on broadcast, but also online, and on the go.
Well, that’s the dream anyhow.
And I’ve been pursuing this dream since December 2006!
Why, you might ask?
Well, because I believe in the dream and my ability to achieve this ambition. I love the fact that it’s a concept that has never been done before. And since I’m an advocate of enjoying the journey, this dream provides me with the unique opportunity to pursue a venture (adventure) with four fun-loving, tech-savvy guys from Milwaukee - The Rainmakers – and four creative, financially-savvy homeboys – Quaker Media - from Philadelphia. It’s a hell of a team!
But regardless of the team, our dream is just wishful thinking without carriage on the cable networks – starting with the “Big Two” who together have a national footprint of approximately 40 million subscribers. Unfortunately for us, we don’t have the power, presence, and leverage of Oprah who can launch her new cable channel OWN in 75 million homes with the mention of her name, or Current TV that is championed by the likes of Al Gore. So we have to pursue our vision the good, old-fashioned way – pitch it!
And pitch it we did. In fact, I feel like Sandy Koufax with a strong Brooklyn bullpen!
Over the past 16 months we’ve pitched our dream to dozens of executives within the Comcast and Time Warner Cable worlds until the message resonated with the proper decision makers. It has been a long, arduous journey - a true lesson in persistence – that has demanded us to demonstrate continuous enthusiasm and passion in our hopes and attempts of overcoming a shitload of objections, rejections, threats, detours, competitors, and naysayers.
As Winston Churchill once said: “Never, never, never give up.”
Nevertheless, I still find it frustrating to witness the ease with which a person can say “no” so casually to an idea or strategy without any repercussions. It bothers me that in corporate America a “no” ensures no accountability, no threat of being flogged if a billion-dollar idea is rejected or sidetracked or stalled.
But I guess that’s what makes hearing “yes’ so much more rewarding. I applaud the innovative, entrepreneurial corporate minds that take a chance and wonder “what if.” The difficult part in the pursuit of a dream is locating those individuals within the corporate hierarchy that will take a chance and help take you to the top.
It takes a relentless quest for “yes.”
This week our Homes.TV dream has finally progressed - with the help of innovative executives at both Time Warner Cable and Comcast – another rung up the ladder of success. But we still have a long, persistent way to go.
This entry was posted
on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 3:45 pm by Pat Croce
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April 25th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I am very interested in hearing where you are going with Homes.TV Please keep me up to speed.