Building a profitable business — especially in a sluggish economy — can be a challenge. It’s even harder when you factor in new technology, industry changes, and changes in marketing and communication.
So what’s the smartest route? Do you rely on old-style business and marketing wisdom? Do you do what the gurus say? Or can you draw from multiple sources to create a unique mix that still works?
Look online in almost any industry, and there’s some guru who wants to teach you the secret to his or her success. I mean no disrespect to these people, nor to the people who follow them. But there seems to be a growing belief (possibly at the suggestion of these gurus) that if you don’t follow the exact route they teach, you won’t be able to succeed.
In other words, there’s just one road to success, and if your smart, you’ll stay on the pavement.
My answer: Copying is no way to become a guru
My assumption is that you don’t just want to succeed in your chosen business. You also want to rise to the top and be seen as a thought leader in your own right.
Based on that assumption, I can assure you that you will never reach that goal by following someone else’s path.
You see, you can only generate so much success by copying someone else’s approach. At some point, you must recognize your own unique strengths and dare to do things your own way — sink or swim.
Success comes when you recognize your own
strengths and dare to do things your own way — sink or swim.
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That is, after all, what the gurus did.
The road to guru status
The thing about gurus is that they didn’t start out that way. They attended seminars, listened to success tapes, and read books by the thought leaders who came before them. Just like the rest of us.
Over time, they became adept at the skills they’d been taught and began experimenting. Perhaps they ran into a problem their guru/teacher didn’t address. Perhaps they had a brainstorm and wanted to try something new.
But little by little, they overcame self-imposed blocks to growth and incorporated new ideas — ones they learned from others and ones they figured out on their own.
Then finally, as their experience, expertise and innovation began to converge, they started to get noticed, and a guru was born.
The thing to remember is that it took all three of these conditions to bring about guru status: experience, expertise and innovation.
From experience to expertise to innovation
There’s no other way to develop success. As beginners, we must submit to the best-practice being taught, whether by industry leaders or in books or the classroom.
While you’re learning, you’ll look to what others have done that generated success so you can copy their results. But while you’re looking at what others have done, you should also be studying the trends in the industry.
Watch where technology is moving and how people’s expectations are changing. The gurus will tell you where they found success, but these trends will tell you where success can be found in the future.
Success (and guru status) comes when you combine tried-and-true principles with innovations that take advantage of changes in the marketplace, and when you forget what’s always been done so you can consider what could be done.
True success comes when you’re willing to be different.
Never follow blindly
Look at the trends. Look at your own skill set. Look at the changes that are taking place in the world around you.
If you’re still gaining experience, by all means, imitate the gurus. But be aware that you’ll need to adapt what you’re learning — possibly sooner than later.
If you’re building expertise, begin shaking things up. Question everything. Look to other people than the one or two gurus you’ve been using as your guides. Be prepared to step out on your own and begin writing your own success story.
Ultimately, you need to innovate. That’s the point at which you become the guru. Just be careful, even when you reach that point, not to rest on your laurels.
The point of being an innovator is to stay ahead of the trends. Continue to experiment and challenge the status quo. After all, as a guru, innovation should be your natural state of being.
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What are your thoughts? How comfortable are you breaking away from the road paved by your industry’s gurus? It takes courage to step outside the box. How do you build the courage to do your own thing?
