The Blog For Entrepreneurs

1. Planning Will Save Your Life.

The parachutist who is lax when it come to packing his chute, the climber who has no idea of the route to the top of the mountain, or the surfer who does not know where the rocks are, will all be worm food sooner rather than later.

Similarly the entrepreneur who fails to plan the path of his business, the route his products will take to market and where potential problems will occur with their business, is doomed to make mistakes that could be fatal to their enterprise.

2. At Some Stage, You Have To Jump.

The base jumper, surfer, BMX rider, skateboarder and extreme skier make meticulous plans but cannot possibly be aware of how every run, jump or slope will turn out. They still jump into action though.

The entrepreneur needs to be aware of planning but not rely on it totally. You cannot plan for everything that will happen, if you attempt to do that you will never get your business off the ground. At some stage put your plans aside and just jump.

3. Practice Makes Perfect.

In the video you see sports people performing craziness at a level few of us will ever experience, however, the big wave surfer, the big jump specialist or the off piste skier have practiced for hours everyday, for years, to get as good as they are.

If you don’t practice the skills of an entrepreneur; communication, networking etc. You can never hope to compete with elite of the business world.

4. Fear is Normal – Use It.

Having experienced big ramp riding on a BMX, hang gliding, paragliding and parachuting, I have experienced the exhilaration that these sports bring. In every situation fear raised its head in varying degrees, but all of them intense. However, this fear became the part I most remember and most relish feeling again, it BECAME the experience.

Too many times entrepreneurs fear the fear. Whether it be a fear of failure, fear of humiliation, embarrassment or even a fear of success, fear can be a crippling emotion for an entrepreneur. The thing that the extreme sports person can teach us is that fear is normal, it is part of the experience and to be successful we must seek out the fear.

“Do the thing we fear, and the death of fear is certain.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson.

5. The Glory Is In Competing With Yourself.

Extreme sports do have a competitive element, however many of the extreme sports people I know enjoy the moments by themselves or with small groups of friends. When it comes to the off piste skier, taming a route down a slope that no one has done that season is the reward. The BMX rider who nails a trick for the first time,will never experience a better high with that trick, even in front of crowd.

Too many entrepreneurs believe they are competing against others, of course we compete in business with our products and services, but comparing yourself to others is futile. The true entrepreneur is seeking more than the accumulated points of mere money, they are seeking answers to questions. “How can I improve this?” – “How can I market this?” – “How can I profit from improving peoples lives?” When these questions are answered the entrepreneur is satisfied with himself, he will never have a higher high even if awards are showered on him.

6. It’s Good To be Little Crazy.

Ever met a miserable extreme sports ‘dude’? No, me neither. Every single person I know who climbs up a mountain, throws himself off one, flys his bike, races cars or jumps from perfectly serviceable air planes, is a happy person. Why? I asked a friend who hang glides, he said “Tomorrow I could die and nothing today will then matter, what is the point of getting upset about it?”

Entrepreneurs function on many levels in one day, problem solving, idea creating, networking and being a family person. Any of these situations can cause us to become consumed and worried. The thing we need to realise is that we are leaders, from the one man band blog to the CEO of a multinational billion dollar company, we are the hang gliders, the surfers and the base jumpers of the business world and, whether people admit it or not, most people think we are a little crazy. They look at us for inspiration and, perhaps, a way out of the rat race for themselves. We should, therefore, put ourselves above the pettiness of problems and show people how we take risks and problems in our stride.

7. It’s all about the journey, not the destination.

When I was a kid my hero was Evel Knievel. To me he was the real Superman, flying his bike over buses or fire or even trying to fly his ‘sky bike’ over the Snake River Canyon. When asked just before his death why he did all this he said:

“You can’t ask a guy like me why I performed. I really wanted to fly through the air. I was a dare­ devil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Evel Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an ass not to be scared. But I beat the hell out of death.”

I think as entrepreneurs we all have a little Evel Knievel in us, at least I know I have.

Regards
David
@TheMarketMaker