See your business as already broken
January 23, 2009 – 1:00 amThis might seem like a strange way to promote an online business, however every online business success is the result of one or more attempts ending in failure.
An old proverb says that everything has a beginning and everything has an end. The computer you are using to read this will eventually be retired and ultimately be recycled or, if you are not environmentally conscious, rot away in a landfill. At some point in the past your computer had never existed. At some point in the future it will again be non-existent.
Everything around us is changing. Even we will not last in these bodies forever. We die, get buried and return to dust.
Just as this happens in the world around us, it too happens in business. Business activities and strategies begin at some point, work for a time, then it is time for them to be retired.
Accepting that not everything you touch will turn to gold is a strategy to prepare yourself for some failure on the road to success.
Take a look at something that is working for you now. It might not even be a business activity. Visualise it as a broken and worthless activity. What would you do to overcome this loss? Diversify, replace it with another income-producing activity or just fret and wish that things would just “stay the same”?
Preparing yourself for the eventual “moving on” of the things that currently make your business, or life, successful is a great way to plan for future success.
You begin to realise that everything does have a beginning and an end, and that when the time comes for something to come to an end, you can appreciate the prosperity and life that it brought you.
It is fairly obvious that you do not want good things to come to an end. Do not go about looking for the “end dates” on everything. Rather, maintain a positive outlook at all times, accept that things will come to an end, and you will be prepared to deal with these “endings” when they occur, and then move on.
Approaching your business, and life for that matter, with this in mind will open up a whole new perspective for you, giving you a new angle to appreciate what you have and how much it is worth right now.
2 Responses to “See your business as already broken”
Wouldn’t you say that before you consider the possibility of an end date you look at the strategy of your business and why its not working and look at the competition that is working and try and implement some change before giving up. Nice post certainly makes you think.
By Khaled on Mar 31, 2009
You are right, of course. There are many paths a business can take. Once a business starts going downhill it does not mean you go out and arrange the funeral. Acting on information gained from reviewing strategy, observing competitors activities and customer surveys, for example, can help bring back prosperous times.
By Brendan on Mar 31, 2009