New Day #207

"The fear of failure is greater than the desire to succeed," said Tom Leslie, the owner of Norlift, a material handling business specializing in selling forty-foot storage containers, industrial shelving and, most crucially to me, forklifts.

I met Tom through one of the many business groups I speak to, which isn't as strange as it sounds. Artists and entrepreneurs have more in common than one would think. Like Tom, I'm driven more by a fear of failure than a desire to succeed.

And speaking of driving, Tom let me test-drive a number of forklifts.

Like this one, which is way more stylin' than I expected:


Forklifts have all kind of counter-intuitive features: you have to press down to make the lift go up, and vice versa; the back wheels go sideways, which gives the sensation of sliding on ice; and you can switch from forward to reverse without taking your foot off the gas.

What's more, I had no idea there were so many varieties. Here's a lift (retail $250,000) that can carry a forty-foot container:


Yeah, I didn't drive that one.

But I did get to do doughnuts with the zippy little electric model:



PS I'm off to Ashland to see the Shakespeare Festival and don't know my internet situation yet, so I may be a bit sporadic with the next few posts.

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