Three Lessons Young Entrepreneurs Can Learn From The Movie Conviction Starring Hillary Swank!
Entrepreneur have you seen the feature film “Conviction” starring Oscar award winning actress Hillary Swank and veteran actor Sam Rockwell?
Minnie Driver, Melissa Leo,Juliette Lewis and Daniel Gallagher round out a solid all star cast.The movies premise (a powerful true story BTW), revolves around Betty Ann Waters (Swank’s character) a divorced mother of two and her beloved brother Kenny (played by Rockwell.)
Her entire world is literally turned upside down, and temporarily shattered when her beloved brother Kenny is falsely accused of a brutal 1980 murder of a young woman Katharina Brow in Ayer Massachusetts.
Although Swank’s character’s brother was originally charged and arrested for this brutal crime, he was later set free! But as fate would have it, two years after he was originally cleared of all charges!
Wouldn’t you know it , (a so called) new previously undiscovered witnesses surface and Rockwell’s character is rearrested, tried and convicted on highly circumstantial evidence! (That certainly hasn’t happened before, now has it!)
While in prison for the second time, and this time serving a life sentence! This series of life altering events, dramatically alters Betty Anne Waters (Swank’s characters) life!
Three Extremely Important Lessons Young Entrepreneurs Can And Should Learn From The movie Conviction!
Because Swank’s character is so extremely close to her brother, she courageously goes back to school, first to her GED!
Then goes on to graduate college in order to finally pursue a law degree. In order to hopefully finally free her brother by proving his innocence! (Now entrepreneur is that commitment or what?)
And as it turns out, her brother was in fact framed by a series of dirty cops and a complicit judicial system. Witnesses are either bribed or coerced and bullied into fingering Rockwell’s character as the perpetrator of this brutal crime! (That to date has never officially been solved!)
Swanks character faces a ton anticipated and unanticipated ups and downs, in her unrelenting mission to free her brother! Turns out her entire cash strapped journey would take in excess of 18 extremely long years of what if’s and if only’s.
Before all her hard work and junk yard dog like persistence and determination finally frees her brother for good!
If You’re Looking To Neatly Wrap Things Up In A Single Weekend! (Do Think Again!)
Her incredible journey and unrelenting search for the truth, reveals three incredibly powerful lessons, for any and all aspiring entrepreneurs, but especially young entrepreneurs.
1.) Entrepreneurial lesson #one: At one point during her investigation Swank’s character was told crucial evidence needed to prove her brothers innocence was some how mysteriously lost!
What’s the lesson you ask? She set a clearly defined goal (to prove brothers innocence) and no matter what obstacles she encountered during her all out pursuit of that goal, (and there were tons of them), she never ever gave up!
Even though she constantly faced a ton of temporary heartbreaking setbacks! She grew tired and frustrated! But she pressed on & on!
And even though she got extremely frustrated with the snails pace of the investigation and the entire judicial process in general, she realized she needed to stay laser focused and committed to the final outcome!
Which meant, whenever necessary, she needed to adjust her approach (in a major way) sometimes in order to ultimately solve the problem! She was married to the final solution, not to her temporary obstacles and approaches!
3.) Entrepreneurial lesson #three: In all it took 18 long arduous years before she could finally proved her brothers innocence! (Talk about delayed gratification!)
The lesson here? Entrepreneur some long range goals, will most certainly take more time and enormous amounts of patience before you ultimately succeed!
It’s so not about get rich quick! Or get rich click! Don’t you agree? That my friend, are three extremely powerful lessons, any and all, but especially young entrepreneurs definitely need to learn! And the movie wasn’t half bad either! What say you?
Please list at least two simple spin off concepts (in the comments section below) that you can apply to your business, product or service in the next 30 days or less!
What Have You Committed To Recently Where For Whatever Reasons You’ve Temporarily Dropped The Ball!
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I have not seen this movie, but after reading your post and watching the trailer… wow! Delayed gratification, for sure — and what persistence! She never wavered in her faith that her brother was innocent, and she saw the big picture — his freedom. We can learn a lot from her, not matter what we are doing in life.
Willena Flewelling recently posted…A Helping Hand
You got that right Willena!
Every time I watch that trailer and read that short description, it’s still hard to
believe her incredible and relentless pursuit of freeing her brother!
She just wouldn’t accept defeat!
You know she got discouraged, bot not matter what, she pressed on!
And you know what else, the movie doesn’t even discuss is, she first went and got
her GED! Very commendable!
Then she went on to get a four year college degree!
Then finally, first applied, got accepted, then went to law school, graduated and passed the bar!
All while she raised two kids as a single parent & worked full time! Willena, how the heck
was that possible!!LOL!
When did she have time to raise two boys (no less!), keep them out of trouble, work a full time job,
plus still have the time or financial resources to afford, first college, then law school!
I know she qualified for some type of financial aid, but still! Her story is truly inspiring!!
And makes it crystal clear that no matter what and hard we may claim we’re trying!
We haven’t even scratched the surface!
Thanks for stopping by! And for your continued support! I totally appreciate it!
Wow Mark what story. Honestly I’ve never heard of this movie but I will definitely see if I can find it. Some of the stories we’re hearing about people being freed after being falsely convicted are horrifying and I hope the justice system is working to prevent this from happening so often in the future – scary stuff. And terrific analogy with your well thought out Entrepreneurial lessons!
Marquita Herald recently posted…My Secret to Finding Opportunities in Adversity
That compliment means an awful lot coming from you Marquita!!
Thank you so much! That story is truly a gut check! Because
she literally started at the end of the line and just went all out!
And never ever gave up! I’m embarrassed to admit how many times I’ve let
the slightest temporary obstacle derail and or deflate me!
This poor woman, simply would not be denied! What an incredible profile
in courage, determination and relentless commitment!
If you can find it on DVD, it’s definitely worth investing the time to watch it!
Thanks for your extremely kind words Marquita! You definitely made my day!!
And thanks as always, for not only stopping by and sharing your extremely valuable insights, but for
continuous support as well! Have a great weekend & beyond!
Hi Mark,
I loved this movie. The first lesson I learned that I was able to relate to being an entrepreneur was to take action. I mean if we do not take action and be willing to make mistakes along the way we will not get very far in this business.
Secondly, she never gave up. Eventthough she faced many hurdles she always found a way around them. As entrepreneurs we must think outside the box. Sure if something is working we do not have to reinvent the wheel but we should always be thinking ahead and able to adjust on the fly.
Thanks for sharing Mark! Great contrast you were able to easily articulate.
Nathaniel Kidd recently posted…A Frugal Saving Tip for New Parents
Isn’t that the truth Nathaniel!
That lady and her brother for that matter, they both endured enough
disappointment for any five people!
And just, like you pointed out, she simply never ever gave up! She probably has what Thomas Edison had!
Which meant, she could have eventually invented the light bulb back then as well! Her sheer persistence and “Rocky” like
determination is beyond inspiring!
Thank goodness a person like that and many others are driven to do good and not evil! Can you imagine
the type of destruction that type of unwavering commitment to do evil could actually cause!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts and insights Nathaniel!
and for your continued support! Both are greatly appreciated!
Hi Mark. I haven’t seen this movie, but it looks like something I would like. Maybe I’ll see if I can watch it on Amazon Prime.
The two lessons I come away with are:
1) Instead of whining and thinking all was lost, she took action by getting her GED.
2) She started with a long-range goal and diligently took the steps needed to get there.
That’s what we all need to do to succeed in this world. Some people seem to understand that naturally, while a whole lot of people don’t ‘get it’.
Thanks for an inspiring post.
All the best,
Leslie
Leslie Denning recently posted…Get More Traffic By Becoming a Secret Agent
Thank you Leslie!
You simply nailed it! God knows that woman could have easily made or offered
several lame excuses for not at least attempting to do anything meaningful!
Because she didn’t actually start at the top of the “most likely to
succeed” list, now did she!
Let me get this straight! A divorced mother of two small children, with no
GED!
She’s first, gonna get her GED (totally admirable), then attempt to
graduate college! If the story ends there great! What a tear jerk er!LOL!
But now she applies to and gets accepted to Law School! Come on!
And then she & her totally innocent brother endure 18 years of disappointment too boot!
Before finally getting the snails pace judicial system to acknowledge their mistakes and legal misconduct and
eventually over turn this mans wrongful conviction!
I’m supposed to believe (in this age of entitlement!) that some
lowly, previously unskilled divorced mother of two actually did all this! Really!
Ah yes, the wonders of “the can do” attitude!! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your powerful insights Leslie!
Both your powerful insights and continuous support is greatly appreciated!