Once you decide to take action on a big dream, to launch a new business, to build your dream house or to write the next great American novel, you start encountering problems and challenges.  That’s how things work.  When an idea is in the dreaming, thinking and planning stage there are no problems.  But once you get serious, the real problems come in like icebergs to block your way.
When this happens you’ve got to keep your focus, and never let anything distract you from your goal. Sometimes this leads to some extreme situations.  Bill Zanker, Founder and CEO of The Learning Annex, tells a fascinating story bout how he encountered and overcame a huge problem that took him all the way to the New York Supreme Court:

“In 1985 USA Today put out thousands of street boxes all over the five boroughs of New York City and New Jersey where people could pickup copies of the newspaper each day. Although there was no ordinance against it, Mayor Koch said, “Those boxes must go.” Gannett, the owner of USA Today, sued the city to have the boxes stay. One day I read in the paper that Gannett won the suit. The judge ruled that Gannett could keep all the boxes in place for a $1 fee.

I decided that I wanted to put in boxes all over New York city, so that we could distribute copies of the Learning Annex catalog. When I read this article, I saw my opportunity. I quickly put down 1000’s of boxes all over New York, just like USA Today. Then I got a call from the city saying, “You can’t do this.” I said, “Why?” I refused to remove the boxes. Then I got a notice that the city of New York was suing me to force me to remove the boxes. But I would not budge.

We took it all the way to the New York Supreme Court. And when we got there, I won. Just like Gannett, I was allowed keep all my boxes in place if I paid a fee of $1. I immediately sent them a certified check for $1. The boxes are still there. And we have boxes in every major city of the country, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Boston and Philadelphia. I stayed focused and refused to quit and it paid off big!”

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