One Percent Inspiration. Ninety-nine Percent Perspiration.

By Jason Black


Certainly, you’ll need all of these vital assets at your disposal and a few more to boot. As American businessman and inventor Thomas A. Edison famously stated, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

So, let’s start at the beginning. Imagine an idea. It could be anything. And, it doesn’t necessarily need to be a new one. Oftentimes, the best ideas come from looking at the same ol’ thing in a new way. For instance, consider the Apple iPhone. Essentially, it’s a revolutionary, 21st Century play on a traditional 19th Century telephone. That’s a more than 100-year old technology that’s just as topical and cutting-edge today as it was when Alexander Graham Bell invented it in the 1800s.

Ok, so now that you have that killer idea, what’s next? Well, now comes the hard part. You’ll need to build some “sweat equity” in order to make your idea a reality. But take heart. This is a great opportunity to get some help and support from friends, family and like-minded people around you who share your vision.

The ‘Iolani School Bulletin wanted to find out more about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. So this past summer we reached out to ‘Iolani grads Guy Kawasaki ’72, Emmaline Ranzman ’01 and 2001 ‘Iolani School Entrepreneurship Challnge winners Mark Grozen-Smith ’11, Guthrie Angeles ’12, and Zalman Bernstein ’12, who are working hard to make their own dreams a reality.

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