Beware of Best Business Practices

By Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller

Success doesn't happen by accident. It has nothing to do with luck. It's not a magic pill someone swallows or a wand someone waves which immediately manifests a revolutionary change in status and bank balance. Success requires strategic planning, action and commitment.

Success also takes an additional ingredient most people overlook; the ability to thumb your nose at conventional wisdom and so-called “best practices” about achieving success. You’ve heard the lines; "It’s luck" or, "You have to be in the right place at the right time" or, "It's all about who you know" and the big one, "It's about how hard you work." Those lines just aren't true.

These statements make up much of the conventional wisdom about what it takes to become a success. However, conventional wisdom is not always the best wisdom, and can frequently be detrimental if followed. The term “conventional,” by definition, should send up a red flag. According to www.dictionary.com it means, "Conforming or adhering to accepted standards," and in another definition, "Ordinary rather than different or original." Accepted standard? Ordinary? Do those sound like the building blocks of success to you?

No one would describe an ultra successful person by those definitions, because the über successful don't conform and they aren't ordinary. In fact they are the complete opposite.  From the minute people are born, they start to conform and follow the herd. They do what everyone else is doing, the way everyone else is doing it. They are taught to stand in line and work to "fit in." They follow the masses and all get the same results ... Average results.

Extraordinary results come from doing something different … from challenging the status quo and shaking things up. So what can you do to get on a path to innovation, extraordinary progress and extreme success? Here are five things the ultra successful do differently that you can implement now.

Exploit Your Uniqueness:  The ultra successful companies and entrepreneurs know what makes them different and use it to their full advantage. Most businesses try to be all things to all people, trying to please everyone. They are afraid that being polar will alienate their market. The truth is, real success comes from being “for” a specific group of people and “not for” others. Specialization and customization win the day, garner more attention and ultimately attract the most success.

Every consumer believes his or her situation or problem is somehow different and unique, and they believe there’s a custom solution needed to fix it. They don't want a one-size fits all, “canned” solution, rather a customized solution from an expert person or company that specializes in helping people in their circumstances, understands exactly what they are going through and can relate directly to them.

Ask Better Questions:  Many people think the super successful have all the answers. That may be true, but they didn't get them from divine intervention or random guessing. They get the answers from asking better questions of yourself, your business, your industry, your employees, co-workers, customers, peers and family.

Average people tend to shy away from asking the tough questions because they fear the answers they might get. The successful people face new challenges head-on, ask the tough questions and tackle them regardless of the answers.

Read: The ultra successful realize a need to continue educating themselves. School’s never out for the pro. According to the Jenkins Group, 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year, and 42 percent of college graduates never, ever read another book after school. Successful people devour information, read books constantly, listen to tapes, audio programs and attend seminars on a regular basis. They are addicted to information, positive thinking and improvement. Jim Rohn, world-famous motivational speaker, philosopher and entrepreneur, sums this point up brilliantly, saying, “Poor people have big TVs, rich people have big libraries.”

Take Risks: Risk tolerance is a success trait hard to ignore. Super successful people understand that with risk comes reward and they are willing to take chances. But they aren't stupid, hedging their bets with high quality information and research. They put the work and time necessary to plan for and research the viability of a risky decision. It's still a risk, but a calculated one.

The hyper-success minded also understand with every failure comes a learning experience. They know how to gain valuable information from their mistakes and failures, analyzing situations and extracting as many lessons as possible from disasters. They synthesize this information and create better plans for moving forward.

Fight: The average person tries to avoid confrontation at all costs. People hate to cause trouble, make a scene or get in someone’s face, even to the point of missing out on something they are entitled to. They’re happier practicing avoidance than strength. The overachievers - on the other hand - don’t follow that thinking. They engage in battle to get what they want, deserve or are passionate about, and are not afraid to hurt feelings by being open, honest and blunt about their passions.

Leverage Time: We all have the same amount of time in a day. Some people just do more with it than others. The “Trumps” of the world know the value of time, and how to leverage it to get more accomplished. The average person thinks about time as a renewable resource, not a precious raw material to success. They measure their success in terms of money collected per hour or per year, and think of time as something you exchange for money; an even swap. This thinking delivers standard returns and mediocre wages.

The successful know how to leverage time and stop trading it for dollars. They don't buy into a tit-for-tat mentality when it comes to the exchanging of time for money; rather they create systems that work for eternity. They seek out and get involved in opportunities that deliver returns for long periods of time.

When you follow the crowd and do what everyone thinks is right - for instance, “best practices” - you're going to duplicate their results. Those results are typically mediocre and average at best. The norm isn't extraordinary. If it were, most people would be wealthy, happy and have mind-blowing experiences on a daily basis.

Instead, a normal day usually consists of frustration from businesses and people who are just getting by, limping along and trying to keep it together. That's what conventional thinking and “best practices” deliver.

Read other articles and learn more about Travis Miller and Jimmy Vee.

[This article is available at no-cost, on a non-exclusive basis. Contact PR/PR at 407-299-6128 for details and requirements.]