"Believe in yourself and your idea"— When Shark Tank's Robert Herjavec shared an advice on overcoming the odds

Shark Tank star, Robert Herjavec, believes that there are a lot of risks involved while doing business and that the odds would always be against the entrepreneur. In a LinkedIn post from July 25, 2019, the investor discussed overcoming the odds, and noted that what distinguished a successful entrepreneur was their belief in their ability to reach their goals.

The Shark Tank investor added that if a person couldn't believe in themselves, then they wouldn't achieve any growth and would be replaced by their competitors. So he advised everyone to believe in themselves and their idea and keep moving forward.

"So, take the free advice (after all it’s free!), believe in yourself and your idea, and keep moving. Don’t let the odds get in your way," he wrote.

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Shark Tank investor Robert Herjavec explains the importance of believing in oneself

In the LinkedIn post, Robert Herjavec asked the readers to be honest with themselves and recall how many times they had thought about doing something they really wanted to do, but gave up because they felt that "it was too hard."

“'I can’t move to a new city. I don’t know anyone there…' 'How can I go back to school to switch careers if I don’t have a steady income to pay for it…' 'I can’t quit my stable job for something risky like starting my own business…" he listed a few excuses.

Building on this, the Shark Tank investor noted that those who adopted this mindset would inevitably face challenges, as the odds are often stacked against them. However, he emphasized that success ultimately depends on how one responds to those challenges, and whether they choose to persevere despite the obstacles.

The Herjavec Group founder acknowledged that luck also played a huge role in the success of a person, admitting that being "in the right place at the right time with the right product" could lead to great success. However, he emphasized that relying and attributing success to luck was "foolish".

Robert further recalled the story about the FedEx founder, Fred Smith. He shared that Fred had written an undergraduate term paper on the business concept behind FedEx and got a C-. His professor even told him that his idea was impractical and unrealistic.

However, instead of giving up, Fred turned around and used his concept idea to start the business that went on to be famously known as FedEx.

"For every person who says you can achieve your goals, ten people will tell you that you can’t - or worse - why you shouldn’t. “You have a good life here, why do you want to move?” “Your job has good benefits and perks. Why do you want to throw all that away?”" he added.

Robert clarified that there was nothing wrong with picking a stable job over starting a business, pointing out how some people want to have a comfortable life and were satisfied with the job they had. However, he emphasized no entrepreneur had ever made it big by playing it safe.

The Shark Tank star noted that doing business involved a lot of risks, whether the risk came at the start or after the 100th employee was hired.

Robert then reflected on his early days of starting Herjavec Group, sharing how they had lost a customer that accounted for over 75% of their revenue at the time. He and his team were "shocked" and even "sulked momentarily" about it. However, they soon realized that they couldn't be that dependent on one buyer, and that they had to keep pushing forward and persevere.

"In the next 12 months we tripled our sales and expanded the number of buyers we engaged with. We hustled. And yes, it was hard. Really really hard. But we were building. It should be hard," the Shark Tank star continued.

He reminded the entrepreneurs that nobody would believe in their idea as strongly as they would, or know what they went through to succeed. Therefore, he advised them to have unwavering confidence in themselves and their vision, urging them to keep pushing forward despite any obstacles..

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New episodes of Shark Tank season 16 air every Friday on ABC.