Phil Knight was struggling with his business. His product supplier was acting fishy and Knight didn’t know what to do. He found out the supplier was going to make someone else the US supplier for their shoes. Knight didn’t want to give up. Instead, he learned what he’d have to do to gain their trust back. He went and visited Japan and signed a three year contract with his supplier, Onitsuka. The contract stated that Onitsuka couldn’t let anyone else sell in the United States and that Knight couldn’t sell any other running shoes while on contract with Onitsuka.
When he returned home, rumors spread that Onitsuka was trying to invest in another seller. He knew this was a violation of their contract if they ended up hiring someone else and he needed this company to survive. So he invited the head of the supplier company to the United States on a friendly visit. While their, the supplier enjoyed himself but also repeatedly told Knight that he was disappointed in the sales margins he was seeing and that he would need to improve them immediately.
Knight was going under. Even though the company was selling a lot of shoes, they still weren’t making enough money. Not even close. Knight came up with a crazy idea that seemed like it was going to fail from the get-go. Knight decided he wanted to sell other shoes for a new brand. He partnered with another Japanese company and started manufacturing football and soccer shoes in Mexico. He called his brand Nike.
Throughout this story, I’ve learned that Knight never gave up. He continued to push forward for what he wanted and what he had always dreamed of. I think it’s really interesting that Knight came up with his multi-billion dollar company. It took failure to gain success. Knight was always thinking outside the box and because of that, he was able to become extremely successful in his field.