Are You Committed? Should You Be?
November 2011
It was exciting to hear that the recent Black Friday resulted in a 7% increase in retail business over last year’s and that this was the biggest Black Friday ever. By now, business leader, you have made it through the worst recession in US history, by some accounts, and you should be thinking about what you are going to do next year. The marketplace has changed, dramatically, over the last few years, with more people starting businesses than ever before and competition is even fiercer with major corporations picking up business that was traditionally the focus of small businesses.
If you want to be successful at whatever you do, you must plan, strategically, in order to get there and stay committed to that plan. Success is a matter of consistent commitment over time with unyielding faith and focus that what you have set out to achieve will happen.
The story of the Opera Singer (below) reminds us of what commitment to our craft and our businesses can yield for us.
Here are five tips you can use to get your company motivated and moving forward into 2012.
- Success is a Matter of Consistent Commitment Over Time.
- Success Requires Faith and Focus
- The Three Requirements for Commitment
- Don’t Settle for Second Best
- Don’t Spend Your Life Waiting for Others
(To experience your Aepiphanni online, please click here.)
The Opera Singer by Pedro Pablo Sacristan
One day, a train was approaching the small town of Cheekyville. On the train was a strange guy with a big suitcase. He was called William Warbler – the man, not the suitcase – and he looked very common indeed. What made him most unusual, though, was the fact that whenever he needed to communicate he did it by singing opera. It didn’t matter to William whether it was simply a matter of answering a brief greeting, like ‘good day’. He would clear his voice and respond,
“Gooood dayyy to youuuuuuuu….. tooOOOO!”
It wouldn’t be unfair to say that almost everyone considered William Warbler a massive pain in the neck. No one could get a normal, spoken, word out of him. And, as no one knew how he made his living – and he lived quite simply, always wearing his same old second-hand suit – they often treated him with disdain….
(Click here for the rest of the story…)
Enjoy! Your feedback is always welcome!
Consistent Commitment Over Time.
When looking at the largest companies in the world such as Wal-Mart or GE, success didn’t come to them over night. It came over time. The companies were consistent with their offerings, creating a clear message about what made them different, planning for why people would come to their stores or purchase from them repeatedly and what their shopping experience would be.
No brainer, right? WRONG!!
These companies had to plan. They had to listen to their customers and learn what they desired in a shopping experience, why they purchase one brand over another and what message or communications made them take action! They had to anticipate customer needs and communicate those needs to their customers – consistently. This meant that their business model had to be designed with a customer-centric approach.
Say you want to run for the Office of President of the United States. When do you suppose you start preparing for it? During the primaries? While working your nine-to-five job?
While there are those who probably wake up one day with a calling to run for office, those who wish to do something extraordinary have a vision or a dream of taking on that role. The thing about dreams and visions is that they rarely reveal themselves instantaneously, despite what we have embraced in our “need it now!” society.
Faith is believing in something that you cannot see. It is as simple as flipping on a light switch and expecting light! However, it is complex as knowing that knowing that if you do the right things, your business will be successful. Not right now, not necessarily tomorrow, but it will happen over time.
Focus is as simple as (literally) keeping your eye on the ball. If you play baseball, tennis, cricket or any number of ball and stick/racket games, you know that taking your eye off the ball is the difference between success and failure. You’ve got to stay focused in order to stay committed. You don’t change directions (though you might refine your target), you don’t lose sight of your target and you don’t allow yourself to get distracted.
1. Time – we already mentioned that success takes time, but it also requires that you commit a certain amount of time to growing your business at very significant intervals. If you recall: the formula for success is commitment over time. If you are not spending a specific amount of time on growth, it isn’t going to happen. Commit time – hours per day/hours per week – whatever it will take to continue doing what you do while planning for growth.
2. Resources – Often during planning sessions, one of the questions that is asked is, “who is responsible for this?” That could be marketing, sourcing, research, project management or providing leadership on a particular project or phase. If your company, has a number of employees or equipment or space or other assets that would help the project move along, failure to commit those necessary resources could be the difference between success and failure of your project. Keep in mind – you may have to go out and get those resources!
3. Money – While you might say, “why didn’t you make MONEY number 1 in terms of needs?” Believe it or not, money probably gets much more credit than is due. Often you can get time and resources without spending money, getting you more than halfway there. You may be able to allow people to invest in your firm or find other more creative ways to get the money you need to fulfill your commitment.
Committing your resources says that you are serious about what you are doing. Your level of commitment is often what inspires other people to get on board with your dream and help drive it to realization. Commit your resources to the right activities, not solely based on price. Many times, you will find that by under committing your resources, you will receive less than you need in order to reach your goal.
There are probably hundreds of companies that do what you do – serving the same market that you do with similar deliverables as your company has. How do you avoid consistently being in second place or worse? Simply put – it is strategy.
There are many ways to make your company stand out in the marketplace to a particular audience that needs what you are offering. Your company is probably unique in ways that you may not have considered. Perhaps there are opportunities that aren’t being exploited, such as location, the level of customer service or a particular style or atmosphere that is desirable by a specific segment of the market. Consider the idea that you might go to a particular restaurant or movie theatre, passing a number of them on the way. Why is that? Because that business has something particular that you want.
Being first doesn’t mean that you have to be an Apple computer company or a Wal-Mart, but rather, that you are first in YOUR market space. Even the companies that strive to be second are first in the market space for people or companies who are looking for a discounted product or service, which is what Wal-Mart stakes its existence on.
Don’t Spend Your Life Waiting for Others
Waiting on other people or companies to do what needs to be done in your company is what has lead many companies to stagnation and decline. Business and opportunities for business occur every day. While you are waiting, ten other companies are leveraging those opportunities and taking over market space that could be yours. Blaming others for your lack of success will do nothing to get your company on the road to success.
One more thing…every day that you procrastinate on taking the next step to get your business on track to move is time and revenue that are wasted. You cannot get back the time you’ve lost nor the revenue you could earn at some future point as a result of the work you put into your company today. Make a commitment to starting today. Put a pad or a piece of paper nearby to start writing down your ideas – your Aepiphanni’s if you will. Set up some time – regularly – to work on your company. Define the resources you will need. Determine what your budget will need to look like in order to realize certain goals. Know that overnight successes are the result of planning, faith, focus and being ready when the opportunity presents itself.
One day, a train was approaching the small town of Cheekyville. On the train was a strange guy with a big suitcase. He was called William Warbler – the man, not the suitcase – and he looked very common indeed. What made him most unusual, though, was the fact that whenever he needed to communicate he did it by singing opera. It didn’t matter to William whether it was simply a matter of answering a brief greeting, like ‘good day’. He would clear his voice and respond,
“Gooood dayyy to youuuuuuuu….. tooOOOO!”
It wouldn’t be unfair to say that almost everyone considered William Warbler a massive pain in the neck. No one could get a normal, spoken, word out of him. And, as no one knew how he made his living – and he lived quite simply, always wearing his same old second-hand suit – they often treated him with disdain.
They made fun of his singing, calling him ‘Don No One’, ‘Poor-Rotti’, and ‘Lazy Miserables’. William had been in Cheekyville for some years, when, one day, a rumour spread round town like wildfire: William had secured a role in a very important opera in the nation’s capital, and there were posters everywhere advertising the event. Everyone in the capital went to see it, and it was a great success. At the end of its run – to everyone in Cheekyville’s surprise – when William was being interviewed by reporters, he answered their questions by speaking rather than singing. And he did it with great courtesy, and with a clears and pleasant voice.
From that day, William gave up singing at all hours. Now he did it only during his stage appearances and world tours. Some people suspected why he had changed, but others still had no idea, and continued believing him to be somewhat mad. They wouldn’t have thought so if they had seen what William kept in his big suitcase. It was a large stone, with a hand-carved message on it.
The message said: “Practice, my boy. Practice every second, for you never know when your chance will come.”
Little did people realize that he only got the role in the opera because the director had heard William singing while out buying a newspaper.
Success comes as a result of hard work and constant effort.
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