Jesse Cole Thinks Differently to Win the Game
Owner of the Savannah Bananas, Jesse Cole, blazed his way through the business world by thinking differently, but most importantly by being himself.
The praxis “Whatever is normal, do the exact opposite,” is exactly how Cole found his yellow tux, and now he’s encouraging others to find their yellow tux. “A lot of people get stuck,” Cole said. “They’re working a 9 to 5, or they’re behind a cubicle and it’s just not for them. I believe that everyone has something that makes them different.”
With a podcast and a book scheduled to release in January coming out, Cole is now on the search for ordinary people doing extraordinary things, believing that you can “yellow tux your life,” by finding what you love, and what makes you unique. Owning six canary yellow suits might only be one thing that makes him different from the rest, but Cole wants to help others who feel like they’re trapped and not having fun in their life, or their job.
Cole makes it clear, however, that success for him didn’t happen overnight. When Cole started his career as general manager of the Gastonia Grizzlies things were looking grim for the team. With less than $300 in the team’s bank account, and less than 200 fans at a game, it seemed impossible to get the Grizzlies any success. Jesse Cole had a few ideas. Starting with “Grandma Beauty Pageants” and “Fun Flatulence Nights” at the Grizzlies, home games ticket sales began to improve. People wanted to come be entertained. He calls the games the circus, understanding that people who are not even baseball fans come to the games to have fun.
After this, Cole and his newly-wedded wife moved to Savannah where they purchased the baseball team known as the Savannah Bananas. It wasn’t an easy journey, but Jesse Cole used similar tactics and tricks he used with the Grizzlies to make every Bananas game this year a sell-out success. “Last year we turned 20,000 people away because we didn’t have the tickets.”
Having gone from bottom of attendance to turning away thousands of people is a huge success, but he had to work for it. He worked for it by sticking to what he believed in and daring to be different. With his new podcast, Find Your Yellow Tux, Cole is looking to find other success stories of people putting in the work and staying true to themselves.
Drawing inspiration from Walt Disney and P.T. Barnum, Cole presents all the magic of “show biz” in everything he does, and wants to help others find their own kind of magic. He does it all in a bright yellow suit.
To listen to the most recent episode of Find Your Yellow Tux featuring South Magazine Publisher and Founder Michael Brooks, click on the links below:
