Dont think things will go wrong – they will

I was thinking the other day about my business experiences. I then asked myself a question: If I could give a person a single piece of business advice what would it be?  I thought long and hard about this and had a few things come to mind. “Work hard”, “don’t give up”, “stay motivated” and so on. Yet none of these really hit the mark. Of course, this is great advice but it doesn’t really make you think does it? We all know that you need to dig in, work hard and all that other stuff but what’s the catch?

I thought back to my experiences from selling custom designed clothing through to creating a mobile advertising network and one thing really stood out. I have been reluctant to mention this because it’s not exactly the most positive thinking in the world and if anybody knows me, I’m probably one of the most positive guys out there. Yet whenever I thought of this particular aspect it would drum out strong emotions and proved an overwhelming factor and contributor, whether I was running a business or in my earlier years in the corporate cage. That is: don’t think things may go wrong because they will.

What type of advice is that? You might be thinking what an outrageous thing to say and then move on to a more feel good blog about ‘how to set up an Adwords account’ or ‘10 ways to drive instant traffic to your blog’. Feel free, I don’t mind because the day you start doing things on your own you’ll remember what I said and think “that Bakhos guy knew what he was talking about”.

Let me explain a bit more. The top business people in the world understand this theory. Richard Branson is highly regarded as one of the riskiest entrepreneurs around however there is one thing that distinguishes him from the other go getters. Similar to other business people he would look for opportunities by finding a market which has not been given a fair go by current industry players. Then he would deliver great value backed by a profitable revenue model. However it was not until this final step would he make a decision to go through with it. He always made an effort to protect the bottom line. What is the worst case scenario? What if everything failed where will we be? Then if this worst case scenario proved not to be so bad then he would move into the new business venture. It’s this final bottom line aspect I am talking about.

Whenever I was in a position of authority something would go wrong. It could have been while on duty for a $700 million venue when a pregnant lady slips and lands awkwardly. Or maybe reprimanding a public nuisance while his wife falls into a panic seizure within minutes in the same venue? Maybe it might be one of your own company employees approving copyright material when it was yet to be approved by the copyright holder? Then you find out the material has been broadcast live 2 days after the fact then having to work like crazy to sort a potential disaster. Or it could be working on a contract for well over 2 years only to find the other party has decided to hold off for an(other) indefinite period. The reason I won’t mention names is because you would most certainly be familiar with the major groups involved here.

Believe me its scary and nerve racking but the one thing that has saved me has been the ability to understand and embrace the previously mentioned fact. I know that it’s not if something will go wrong, its being prepared for what will go wrong. The other mistake is trying to anticipate what is going to fall through because very rarely is it what you expect it to be. Also if your expecting potential issues in a particular area then sort that out before you commit to anything!

Keep an open mind, look after your bottom line, stay alert and react quickly and assertively to any unexpected challenges that come your way. In business, as in life, good times are easy and this does not attribute to your success. It’s how we deal with unexpected challenges which separates the average from the superstars.