30th March, 2021
From turning his life around to turning around the fortunes of his company, Gino Fracchiolla has learned life’s most important lessons the hard way. And his experiences have taught him that the key to becoming successful is hard work and determination.
Gino has experienced life in a way that a less resilient individual would find very difficult. He’s spent almost 10 years in prison for trafficking drugs. Fortunately, he has been sober since 2017 and hasn’t looked back, and in 2018, he started his first company.
Talking about hard work, he says, “What is hard work? Nobody ever asks, yet everyone seems to know, and in that we have collectively agreed on certain presuppositions that we believe “define” hard work. The only problem with that is it leaves little room for new definitions to breathe. For me, hard work is something that helps you make a tough thing easy over time. It’s the consistent application of will, passion, vision, and action.
Being an entrepreneur has taught me that hard work is not just a physical thing, but mental too. Thinking requires hard work and looking for doors in walls. It’s not easy yet, that’s what makes all the difference.”
On being asked what he tells aspiring entrepreneurs, he says “I tell youngsters not to be determined to become an entrepreneur but to be determined to solve a problem, to grow in knowledge, and to keep mediocrity in check. When you look at determination from that perspective, the pursuit becomes the end, a constantly evolving goal which in its wake leaves a series of laurels and lessons learned.”
Being successful, especially as an entrepreneur, quickly escalates one into a leader. And Gino believes that being a leader “is harder than being successful or wanting success. However, if you chose the path of hard work and determination to get where you are, you’ll find it easier to transition into your role as a leader. Whether it’s the time you wake up or come to work, how you push your creative boundaries, or how you help others along the way, your own experiences along with consistency and effort will give you clues on how to play your role as a leader well.”
There’s no monopoly on hard work and determination. Therefore, there’s no monopoly on success either. And that’s reassuring, because it will not let you think that success isn’t for you since hard work and determination are but personal motivators.