When I originally read this story on Jalopnik it was a complete and utter joy to read.
This story was a source of inspiration of a guy, doing something down right cool. He started with little money, a whole lot of time and the will to actually do the stuff he wants to do instead of just talking about it wistfully. One of those things was to compete in the World Rally Championship. He managed to do so with a $500.00 car he bought off Craigslist! To me this is all about following through on what you're passionate about, and a great inspiration to all entrepreneurs out there. (Especially to those that think you need to have a whole lot of money to start a venture and be successful)
Somewhere along the way I forgot about it and in some strange way found my way back to Jalopnik to find that article again. Re-reading that story is such an underdog inspiration to me that I simply had to post it on the blog.
There are some priceless lines in here that I simply have to quote the author of the blog post, Sam Smith, who is a good friend of Bill Caswell.
"I once asked Bill why he insisted on going through every spectator section crossed up and with the engine banging off the limiter. "Dude," he said, "I don't care if it costs me a couple of tenths. It makes the fans go nuts."
I love this portion because you know Bill Caswell is doing it for the love of it. Not just for the possibility of just cold hard cash and the sponsorship. To me, it speaks volumes about how spending time with the folks who take their time to support you is essential.
"Part One: First, We Broke A Lot"
As an entrepreneur you need to make mistakes. The more we made in our first year of operation the faster we learned. Most folks think mistakes are terrible things. Its something that is beaten into us through school. However, it is even more terrible to not learn from them. The important thing is striving and then striving for something greater. Its easy to play Dirt 3 and rally on your home PC, (which is still fricking fun!) its waaaay harder to follow through and rally like Bill
Caswell did.
"Part Two: Some Dude Mooned Us?"
Perhaps it seems odd, but one of the most important things is to enjoy the details. Even when its someone mooning you when you are flying down a dirt trail at 60-100 mph. In any given day someone mooning you would indeed be something strange. But doing a World Rally Championship event in a $500 BMW (that is older than most of your competitors who just happen to be driving $400,000 plus cars custom built for the job), and then getting mooned? Well that just adds to the experience doesn't it? The very same can be said when you do something awesome like follow your dreams and passions, every detail becomes all the more memorable and worth it.
"Part Three: We May or May Not Be Legit"
Legitmacy is something we all struggle with at one time or another. It even happens in school, with our peers and in the work place. As an entrepreneur this is was an epic struggle that always lurking around the corner. After facing it so many times it becomes familiar, through persistence it becomes less of a horror to encounter. Wrestling with the question of legitimacy becomes so second nature that through the defying and constant testing we end up getting tempered by it. We make it look easy with blase and simply kick butt. Its like that uber hard boss in Final Fantasy that you spend hours trying to defeat, and when you're 20 levels above it, kicking it down only nets you 1 or 2 xp. Before we even realize it legitimacy simply fails to matter anymore.
"Shit happens. (This is proof)"
I love this bumper sticker, because it remind me that some times you just have to let go. Shit will happen and having a tight rein on things is no way to go about running an event planning business. Its an organic process that you really need to adapt and roll with.
I really do hope they make a movie out of Bill Caswell's exploits!
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