Life Lesson

I recently conversed with an extremely successful businessperson about starting a business.

We talked in depth about the pitfalls, potential for failure, and mistakes so many others make.

He also shared his own experience of how one day he was buying a brand new car, had piles of money in his bank, and was doing (obviously) very well. Then in four days, after a series of unfortunate (and unpredictable) events, he was left with $5,000 in the bank and a business on its deathbed.

After 20 minutes or so of talking about the difficulty of starting a business, I paused and said, “That’s the point, though, isn’t it? To go through all that. That’s the exciting stuff. Because damn does it have to feel good to know  you made through all of that”

I’m not sure I had ever believed that as much as I did then and do now.

Going into business or working for yourself is all about the journey’s ups and downs. It’s about the struggle that you have to embrace. It’s about loving every moment the lizard brain speaks up and tells you 50 reasons why you shouldn’t do what you’re considering because it’s too risky, because you’ll disappoint those closest to you, because it might not work – and then doing it.

Here’s a simplified kitchen analogy for what I’m trying to say: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen, but you’ll never make anything great without getting burnt from time to time.

 

Stay Positive & Get Cooking

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The smartest move you can make before you begin down a path is to decide what image you want to hold.

Are you going to be the workaholic who puts in more hours than everyone in the company, who connects work email to your phone, who works weekends and stays up later than late?

Are you going to be the brand that hugs their haters? That is transparent? That shares how they make their money? That educates the (potential) competition on everything they’re doing from a marketing standpoint?

You never need to truly remain one way, with one image indefinitely. But it’s equally detrimental to pivot regularly because of indecisiveness. To succeed, you must decide how you will.

When you decide, you begin to own it. You make decisions based on the image you want for yourself. Nothing has led more passionate people to rock-bottom then not deciding who they are or want to be. There must be a guiding light that you set for yourself.

 

Stay Positive & There’s Always Room To Pivot Later, But Decide Now

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Impact originates from two spaces: acting and listening.

The average marketer focuses in on the small actions and thinks how to build them up. At minimum it requires tactical thinking. Think of grassroot actions and Facebook posts and direct mail receipts. This is the drip campaign. Little impact by little impact you’ll make a difference.

The smart marketer divides her attention on both the small playground and the large. This is about listening to the industry’s movement and the global economic impact your business may have. It’s how the businesses fits into the world of other businesses. This is strategy at its finest.

It’s easy to be captivated by the small picture, but it’s the big one that matters in the end.

 

Stay Positive & If You’re Not Paying Attention To The Globe, You’re Not Marketing

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Someone who rarely ever runs, gets up and makes it through a marathon. Sure, not in record time, but they make it despite the plethora of people telling them they wouldn’t be able to.

Same goes for someone who climbs the tallest mountain in Colorado without any practice (guilty) or who succeeds in NaNoWriMo without designing a storyline.

The average of your work doesn’t have to be the average of all the work you’re surrounded by. It could be better. You can be better. You can be the one that doesn’t meet the average, but increases it for yourself and all those around you.

 

Stay Positive & Time To Raise The Bar A Little More, Huh?

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Competition can piss you off enough to play harder, work smarter, and create better. But it can also have you race  in the wrong direction.

The problem with competition is that we often surrender our control to them.

We let their moves dictate our own.

We let their pace define our pace.

We let their add-ons precept our add-ons.

Which is your business going to be? Slightly better than the rest? Or totally different?

Only when you focus on one option do you get both.

 

Stay Positive & I’ll Let You Guess Which It Is

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Of course it’s plural. Never is there a single reason.

One reason isn’t convincing enough. So we add more. Often times the list is increasing before we start a project or volunteer for an assignment. We think, “If this doesn’t work, at least I have reasons why.”

Truth be told. Those who search for reasons to back off usually do.

Better to acknowledge the grasp for excuses and avoid them. What’s more, why not patch them up so you can’t use them?

 

Stay Positive & You Have Reasons To Keep Forward, Right?

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Great marketing comes from listening, analyzing and doing.

A business owner can riff about competitors and preach all the facts of her product…

But should she?

If a customer arrives in your store, do you yell about what makes you great or do you ask the customer to tell you more about why he is there?

You know the old practice of asking why again and again until you get to the source?

“Tell me more about…” is the same concept.

Rare is it that you ought to be the one telling them more.

 

Stay Positive & Let Your Product/Service Speak For You

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