What To Do When Everyone Tells You ‘No’
We all have probably had great ideas....and most of us have had some of those "great" ideas shot down by family members, co-workers, friends, and supervisors.
Chester Carlson is one of us. He had a brilliant invention, but it seemed that nobody wanted it.He was seeking a better means of reproducing drawings for use in patent applications, which until that time had to be reproduced by hand or through a costly and time consuming photographic process. IBM said no. RCA said no. Kodak said no. Other major companies said no. But, Chester was not to be deterred and is credited with inventing the Xerox photo copier and successfully demonstrated it on October 22, 1938 in New York City. By the way, because he refused to take "no" for an answer, Chester went on to earn a fortune estimated at $100 Million.
So the next time someone says "no" to one of your brilliant ideas, remember Chester.
Below, see how the Xerox copier developed through the years.