How To Leverage Every Little Bit Of Success

As I explained a little in this earlier post, before I had my big break I was trying out all sorts of on-line business models and I never saw much success monetarily speaking. However, I did learn a lot about what worked and what didn’t work during those early years. I also learned that success is relative.

What does that mean?

It means that if you compare results with somebody more successful than you, of course you’re going to feel like a failure. Most people trivialize any bit of success that they achieve, and then proceed to giving up on life, and their dreams. They don’t realize that there is always somebody higher or lower than them on the “totem pole”.

These people of course have it all wrong. How so?

Well, let’s say for example, that you figure out how to set-up your own blog, on your own server, with your own domain. Sure, that may not seem like much. After all, thousands of people set up blogs every day! Right? Yes, but think of the people coming online everyday, that have no clue how to set-up a blog and would like to but are overwhelmed. To them, you’re successful, or at least moreso than them.

So how do you leverage that “little bit” of success?

You create a screencast video or ebook explaining how you went about setting up your blog, along with all the tips and tricks you learned along the way. Use the video or ebook that you create to build an email list by offering it for FREE to those who subscribe to your email list.

Now things are just getting interesting!

Lets say now you were able to build an email list of 1,000 or more people using this tactic. You can then leverage that bit of success the same way you leveraged the last in order to gain an even bigger email list.

See how it just keeps getting better when you begin to leverage every little bit of success? It adds up, until you are very, very successful.

Super successful industrialist Thomas J. Watson once said:

“If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.”

Obviously this does not mean one should try to fail. You should always strive to succeed with every venture, but what the quote really means is that you should double your output, and see what “sticks to the wall”. As long as you are always gaining experience, and constantly testing new ideas in business, you will surely find success! It happened to me, and it can happen to you!

Should You Write A Formal Business Plan?

I never went to college. Perhaps that is why I never felt the need to write a formal business plan. After all, isn’t that where they supposedly impress upon you the importance of a formal business plan?

I understand if you are looking for investors or a loan from the bank, they’re going to want to see a formal business plan. However, I’m a big fan of the shoestring start-up, and thanks to the Internet it’s never been easier! When it comes to launching a business, I say just do it! Don’t wait for millions of dollars in funding before you put your vision in motion.

This study performed by Prof. William Bygrave’s, an entrepreneurship professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., even shows that writing a formal business isn’t as necessary as we’ve all been lead to believe:

“A study recently released by Babson College analyzed 116 businesses started by alumni who graduated between 1985 and 2003. Comparing success measures such as annual revenue, employee numbers and net income, the study found no statistical difference in success between those businesses started with formal written plans and those without them…

What we really don’t want to do is literally spend a year or more essentially writing a business plan without knowing we have actual customers,” says William Bygrave, an entrepreneurship professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., who says he generally advocates “just do it.” Entrepreneurs must be nimble, and will be more apt to stick with a flawed concept they spent months drafting, he adds.”

In conclusion, Guy Kawasaki hits the nail right on the head:

“.. don’t draw the wrong conclusion from this study: “Analysis, planning, vision, and communication are unnecessary.” This isn’t true. What is true is that a business plan should not take on a life of its own. It is a tool—one of many that may help you get funded (or, more accurately, hinder you from getting funded if you don’t have one) and may help you get your team working as a team. But it is not an end in itself.”