This past weekend I was supposed to complete my first Half Marathon. To be honest, I am not the greatest runner. Especially when it comes to long distances. I never understood why people would put themselves through the torture of running for 13 or 26 miles straight. I had never planned on running one myself, until a few months ago when a good friend of mine somehow convinced me that running in a half marathon together would be fun. And you know what, I actually started to look forward to it. I was excited about the thought of doing something that not everyone could say they’ve done. And then came race day…
We had chose to run this specific race because we thought it would provide the optimal running weather. I mean the middle of May is supposed to perfect spring weather, right? Well, when we woke up on race day it was 40 degrees, pouring rain and the wind was blowing so hard, it nearly knocked me down a few times. It didn’t take us long to decide that this was not how we wanted to run our first half marathon. I must admit, I was a little disappointed in how things worked out. But as we started to discuss the next race we would try to conquer, and looked back on our training, I started to realize that there are a lot of similarities between running a marathon and running a small business. Here are my thoughts:
Preparation: Unless you are a world-class athlete, chances are you cannot just show up to marathon without training and be able to make it to the finish line. It takes a lot of preparation. Most people train for months before attempting to run a marathon. You start off with short distances and work your way up to the longer runs. You figure out when to push your body, and when to take a step back, in order to prevent injury. Then you put your race plan together for the big day. What pace are you going to run at to make it the whole way? What is your hydration plan? All this takes time and commitment. The more time, effort and commitment you are willing to put into your training, the more prepared you will be on race day. And the more prepared you are, the better chance you have for success.
The same holds true for running a small business. You don’t wake up one day and decide to invest all of your life savings into an idea you came up with 20 minutes ago. That would be crazy! Instead, you put the time and effort necessary into making sure you will succeed. You do your market research. You do your competitive analysis. You crunch the numbers. You bounce ideas off other people. You put together a well-defined business plan. You prepare! And the more you prepare yourself, the better equipped you will be to handle the challenges that you will run into down the road. Which brings me to my next point.
Perseverance and Overcoming Obstacles: No matter how hard you train, how well thought out your race plan is, or how prepared you think you are, there are always going to be a few obstacles in the road to success. An unexpected injury, hitting the wall a few miles before the finish, or in my case, the weather. That was something I was totally unprepared for (maybe foolishly). How you respond to these hurdles will be the true test of success. I may not have reached my goal of completing a half marathon this past weekend. But that doe not mean I am giving up. It just means it is time to go back to the drawing board. Find a new race, start training again, and try to fine-tune my preparation to allow me to overcome the hurdles that stood in my way the first time.
Once again, the same holds true in business. No matter how much time you put into your business plan, and how perfect you think it is, there is going to come a point where things are not going to go the way you planned. Maybe your sales are behind projections. Maybe your target market is not behaving the way you expected according to your research. The key here is, when that time comes when you realize your are going down a path you were not prepared for, what are you going to do then? Are you going to stick to your guns and continue to run things the way they are currently operating? Are you going to just close your doors and say, “oh well, at least I tried”? Or are you going to take step back, refocus your strategies, adapt, and make the necessary changes that will allow you to overcome these hurdles that you were not initially prepared for? The successful companies, and people, do that later. And that brings me to my final point.
The Sweet Taste of Victory!: It is hard to describe. But there is no better feeling, than the feeling you get after completing something that required you to give every ounce of effort you have in order to finish. Let’s be honest, running a marathon (or a half) is not an easy thing to do. If it were, everyone would do it. And that certainly is not the case. While I did not complete the half marathon I was going to attempt this past weekend, this is not my first crack at an endurance sport. A couple years ago, I completed one of the toughest Olympic distance Triathlons in the country. So I do know a little something about the feeling you get when you achieve something that you worked so very hard for, and that not many other people have achieved.
Running your own business is not an easy thing to do either. According to he U.S. Small Business Administration, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first five years. But the feeling you get when you succeed in making your life long dream come true is indescribable! There really is nothing like it. And that, is what it’s all about.
How about you? What challenges have you faced, either in business or in life, that required you to adjust your way of thinking in order to achieve success?