Fred Schebesta is the co-founder and director of credit card comparison website Finder.com.au. In this post he writes about five movies that taught him entrepreneurial lessons.
Movies have a way of teaching me entrepreneurial lessons and helping me see perspective on situations. Here are my top five inspirational films and the lessons I took and applied to my business.
1. Moneyball
- Believe in your team – Billy Bean pushed my personal ability to believe in my team to a new level. He made personal sacrifices and put his team first. I am on the personal journey to believe at the same level as Billy.
- Belief in yourself – Not only did Billy believe in his team, he also believed in himself. He struggled internally but did not waver in his personal belief.
- Belief in something bigger – When Billy decided not to take the job at the big league team I felt overwhelmed and understood what it means to believe in something other than yourself.
2. The Pursuit of Happyness
- This movie will inspire persistence in you, it reinforced in me to never, never, never give up.
- Sometimes you should give up. But not until you have persisted to the point of breaking. If you come to the point when you break, push past that. Others might not understand, but you must carry on and move forward.
- This reminds me that great people persist.
3. Babe
- Being different can have its challenges but it can also lead to great success. The farmer believed in himself and offered up a different solution to the sheep herding competition. This inspired me to back my different thoughts and not listen to judgement.
- Always be experimental like the farmer and consider new options in your business.
- Sometimes you have to sacrifice personal relationships, friendships and even partners to deliver your idea.
4. Jerry Maguire
- Jerry had a vision of a new business model that did not agree with the going concern. He sacrificed everything he had for his belief and persisted.
- There will always be times when you are down and almost out and in those moments you just need to keep punching.
5. Million Dollar Baby
- The boxers raw belief in her coach is the way that I believe in my mentors. I have learnt to lay down all of my armour and let them deeply tell things to my core to help me grow and improve.
- On the other hand, I have also learnt from this coach of when to invest heavily in a person. I have also realised that sometimes my personal limitations have meant that I have had to step aside and let someone else manage a person to enable them to grow.
