7 Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World

1. You run out of time (and quit).
2. You run out of money (and quit).
3. You get scared (and quit).
4. You’re not serious about it (and quit).
5. You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
6. You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
7. You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).

From Seth Godin’s book, The Dip.

The trouble with many entrepreneurs is that they have so many ideas. Ideas come at them from every where. Here’s the rub though: it’s not the idea; it’s the execution.

Any idea is nothing until acted upon.

How often have you heard someone say, “They stole my idea”? They didn’t steal anything. You have to act on it.

The other problem for some entrepreneurs is that they just want to put ideas in motion. No follow through. Nothing beyond the excitement of starting something. They leave it up to others to execute and carry through on the idea.

When I have listened to Start-ups pitch, the one thing always lacking is a sales plan. It’s great to germinate an idea and launch a business, but how will you make money? I think many hope to be like Twitter: put a ball and bat in a yard and watch other people play with it until you figure out a business model. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL bought many companies but not more than 120 per year. It’s like buying lottery tickets as your retirement plan.

It’s not the idea, it’s the execution on that idea that leads to success.

So I have 2 posts about the speakers at GROWCO (here and here). The first one is a rant because I was frustrated and disappointed, but the second one does offer some tidbits gleaned from the speakers.

On RAD’s Radar has a bunch of the insights and quotes from the sessions I attended at GROWCO.

Now I will sum up the conference in 4 points.

Number 1: I would have to say that in order to really grow your business you need to tell a story. That’s first and foremost. And not a story that is Me, Me, Me. Over the ages storytelling is how history was passed down. You know your own family history from listening to your parents and grandparents tell you stories. If you want people to talk about your company and refer business to you, you need to be able to tell a clear, concise story about what you do that benefits the person who is listening. (It takes time to create this message).

Whether you are networking, giving a presentation, answering a customer complaint, or on a sales appointment, remember that people care about themselves, not you. What message do you want them to take away? (It can only be one message).

Your Brand is the Emotional memory that a person has for either your company or logo or product. I usually describe it as 1K of memory storage of everything they know or have heard about your company. But there has to be an emotional string there somewhere for them to care one way or another. Apathy is the absence of emotion. [FYI, the Coke/Pepsi Challenge with brain imaging]

“You are building a relationship not a sale,” says Norm Brodsky. Raving Fans, Repeat Customers, and Referrals all come from relationships. You need to care about your customer more than making a sale. Period.

It all starts with the Hiring. You can’t teach Friendly. Hire Slow, Fire Fast. If the candidate isn’t smiling and trying to win the position, don’t bother hiring them. Corporate Culture is about hiring friendly, trustworthy people that care about the same things that you care about. [See the story of Zappos.com or any article by Norm Brodsky]