A few weeks ago, I listened to a martial arts studio owner talk about his success, schedule, marketing, and philosophy. He was incredibly candid and shared a lot of strategy, but what I wrote down was far more instructional for business success.
As an aside, I feel the need to interject a fact that some consider a very hard truth, women business owners in particular: Business success is defined by your profitability. Sure, there are many ways to define “other” success…. in life, in marriage, in parenting, in ministry, in friendship, in health…. But, in business, there is but one: Are you or are you not profitable? (Your business can do a LOT of good… and make a lot of money while serving others, making a difference, impacting lives and communities…. and YOU — as its owner — can be “successful” in other ways, but the business itself has but ONE measure of success: profit.) Read below to find out when all the profit in the world wouldn’t matter to me…
If this truth ruffles your feathers, I have a few other websites to suggest you spend more time on… lol… Back to what we’re here for… 4 Kung Fu Strategies for Business Success. These are strategies that Bruce Lee considered paramount to martial arts success, and they are immensely (maybe even more) powerful when applied to business today.
The reason these four strategies are so paramount to entrepreneurs is three fold: First, those of us driven to succeed are naturally curious and students of nature, people, trends, etc. Next, even those who are LESS curious are — like all of us — inundated with often conflicting information about business. Finally, we have to have a system / philosophy in place to make sense of all of this information, make it applicable and also have time to take action on it.
Here are 4 Kung Fu Strategies — from Bruce Lee — to help you do just that:
- Take knowledge from as many fields as possible. Don’t just stay glued to that which is in your own industry… that’s a recipe for sameness, lameness, and ultimate failure. Bruce Lee took information from lots of fields, including boxing, fencing and even dancing.
- Adapt what is useful. Reading a business book? Great. Take ONLY what is useful and plan time to put it into action.
- Reject what is useless. Still reading that business book? Even better. Be SURE you can tell someone what aspects, ideas, and strategies you’ll immediately dismiss and reject as useless. “Ain’t nobody got time for that…” lol…
- Finally, what is most important… Add what is specifically, uniquely your own. “Me too” businesses don’t last long… and I have to assume they are inherently unfulfilling. Always add something that is uniquely yours. Make it your own. Because otherwise, in my humble opinion, no amount of business success / profit will really matter if you’re creating it on someone else’s terms.
Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.
~ Bruce Lee
