I recently took some heat and good-natured kidding from my two sons and a couple good friends because I shared with them how much my wife and I were enjoying the American Idol auditions. Of course, a week later one of these people told me they started watching the show and really enjoyed it.
American Idol and small business are a lot alike. Both are filled with risk takers. And while one would think there is a lot more risk when you go into business you wouldn't guess that by seeing the reaction of people who didn't pass the audition and hear the words "You're going to Hollywood." Tears, despair, cussing and amazement were common. These people had their hearts set on not only making it to Hollywood but winning (even when they sang bad Karaoke). Similar to being in business; where everybody thinks they have the next great idea.
Passion is key
While it appeared that Memphis had the best talent in these auditions NY was the most entertaining. Some incredible people (not all with talent).
My favorite was a young lady who when asked if she thought she was a good singer (after a horrible performance) answered, "No." When asked why she was trying out she answered that she felt it was time for someone who was not a good singer to be the next American Idol. It was pointed out that this is a singing competition but that didn't faze her. She whined and cried about it; not making any connection to good singing and a singing competition.
She had passion, misguided but still passion. Just like everybody in business needs. Whether you are or want to be in business because of the product or service you sell or just to use your business skills you must have passion. If you don't it will show and bring down your employees, customers and others.
Risk and mitigating it
We all take risks. We get married, have kids, going skiing, ride bicycles or motorcycles, drive on crowded roads at 70 mph and cross the street. American Idol contestants all challenged themselves and in public!
Risks abound in business. Market risks, product failure, employee issues and many more than I can list here. How do we best mitigate these risks? We plan and we act on our plan. We plan what we will do, how we will do it, what our actions will be if certain "things" happen and we draw upon our experience to handle circumstances we assume will come up at some time.
Last week a business owner told me sales started going up a few months ago (yes, it's you Mike). Coincidently that was when they started making more sales calls (if you believe in coincidences). The risk of not making sales was solved by taking action. Amazing how that works.
Making decisions
A recent Dutch study said that when making big decisions go with your gut feel. Many business decisions are big decisions, at least in the short run.
We make better decisions when our gut feel is based on knowledge and that often means paying attention to the details so we know why things happened and how we can replicate them in the future (or avoid them in the future).
Two best friends tried out for American Idol. One had taken years of voice lessons. The other no lessons. Both made it to Hollywood and the judges told the untrained singer she was better than her friend. Maybe she sang from her heart more than from any lessons.
Conclusion
Business lessons and analogies are everywhere because business and life are a lot alike. The bottom line is we need to take risks, plan so those risks are managed as much as possible and pay attention to what is going on (the details) so our [gut] decisions are the right decisions.
