Succeeding At Business - Worried You Cant Beat The Odds?
The 2005 Kentucky Derby saw unheralded horse, Giacomo, win. He never should have won. He was a 50 to 1 long shot. The odds were against him. But he did win and it ranked with the greatest dark horse victories of all time.
If you've started up a business lately, particularly one online, the odds of success may look pretty long for you too.
There are established competitors in almost every field. The low cost of online startup lures a lot of entrepreneurs. Although they would never find necessary backing to outfit an offline business, they crowd the Internet picture. Advertising costs for the best keywords are shooting up as the crowded field bids up the price.
So how can you compete in this situation? After seeing what happened at the Derby, I think there are some key lessons we can apply to help us win too.
1. You don't have to win every race - or even the big races - to make money. All the horses in Saturday's race have won and earned in the past or they wouldn't have been there. But only Giacomo won this particular Derby. Should the rest of the field give it up and go home? Of course not. There are always other races at other tracks on other days. Stay in the competition.
2. You need to run your own race. You have to find your own corner of the market. Uncover what makes you unique and stick with it. Don't be like the losers desperately trying to keep up with the lead horse. Most of the time that lead horse sets too fast a pace to be able to finish in the money. Compete on your strengths. Run your own race.
3. You want the heart of a winner. The best horses always stay in the race, even when they're being beaten. They keep running as hard as they can, all the way to the finish line. Stay in there even when you can see the competition is going to win. After all, you never know what's going to happen. The leader could stumble ten feet from the finish. But even if they don't, by staying with it, you build your stamina and heart for the next race.
The best example in the '05 Derby was Afleet Alex. This horse was a sentimental favorite because his owners had vowed to put some of the winnings into cancer research. He proved he was more than just a wish-to-win horse though. He got the lead briefly toward the end of the race then just as quickly was overtaken by Giacomo. Did Afleet Alex rein in? Not on your life. He pounded down that track just like he was still out ahead. And he finished in the money because of it. Third - not first - but still a money winner.
If you enter, you need to run all the way to the wire. From start to finish, put your heart in it.
Odds against you? No. They're just some numbers that ultimately have little to do with whether you win or lose. You'll win if you remember the Derby horses. Run every race but don't think you have to win every one. Run your own race. And always put your heart in it. The long term winners pound down the track with every last ounce of strength they have left - regardless of the outcome.
Be like Giacomo, and Afleet Alex and all the rest of that magnificent field. Run your heart out.
The author owns and runs internet-marketing-solutions firm, RA Murphy & Company. On the internet since 1996, RA Murphy serves clients by solving their traffic and conversion problems and finishing web projects left incomplete by others. Murphy specializes in fixing the mistakes that others make. More information is available at the website, http://www.RAMurphy.com
Source: www.articlesbase.com
