Business Lesson Number 3 Learned from Reality TV Show –Be Professional

If you are into a reality TV show, you do not have a full control over what was shown about your personality or your performance. The televiewers will only rely on what the editors or producers choose to show them. You cannot select what to be televised, may it be your good moments, or your bad moments. You must be aware that whatever is televised, that will surely affect your journey towards the finals.

The same concept applies to business. You cannot control over everything. You cannot arrange things because every now and then, changes may occur. Your business is always open for everybody and you don’t know how your interaction with people may affect your business.

Because of these uncertainties, you must always stay professional. Treat anybody and everybody the way you want to be treated. Do your job with due respect and in a professional way. Everybody would still like to work with people who are conducting their business professionally. In all circumstances, stay professional and develop a positive attitude with everybody, whether you like them or not, whether they are annoying or not, whether you are crazy about them or not. That is how you should play the business game.

Business Lesson Number 2 Learned from Reality TV Show – Stick in your Comfort Zone

Everybody has its own talent and skills. All of us have certain things we’re very good at doing. In a reality TV show, the target is to please the judges as well as the viewers. Contestants are always trying to come up with a brilliant performance, something that is new and hot. However, in some cases, performing new things may not be comfortable for the contestants. If you are doing something on the stage that is not in accordance to your cliché, it will naturally show up. The judges and the viewers will notice if the performer is struggling or enjoying what he is doing on stage.

This concept also applies to business. It is very tempting to try something new just to go with the masses. If there are new products or services that are skyrocketing in the market, it is easy for you to decide to offer the same products and services. This is not a problem, as long as these new hot things complements with your business. As long as you know how to manage it and in accordance to your expertise, then by all means try it. However, if this is simply a whim, then it may incur chaos to your business. The lack of knowledge and expertise will show naturally.

The lesson here is to stick to your comfort zone. It is hard to retain your standard if you already experienced disaster. If you are good at back tumbling, eating fire, or producing high quality garments and accessories, stick to it as this is where you are good at. Concentrate on your strength and what you can do best.

Business Lesson Number 1 Learned from Reality TV Show – Listen to Criticism

Watching a Reality TV is not a waste of time at all, or a pure entertainment. Entrepreneurs can get some lessons out of it that they may apply to their businesses. One of these best lessons that they may use to their business is to Listen to Criticism.

In a reality TV show, judgment is a part of the game. Criticism is open, whether from a hired judge or from the viewer’s opinion. Do not avoid criticism, listen to it and you will soon find out how it helps you mold into somebody better.

In your business, you don’t need to ask everybody’s opinion regarding your products, your marketing, etc. All you need to do is to listen to your boss or to your client if they have something to say. Do not get offended with their criticism nor defend it. Just learn to listen and evaluate if you can implement their suggestions to your business and what effect it may incur to your business. Try to be in their shoes and understand why they criticize your business that way. Whether it is a good or bad criticism, you have to show respect to them as they are just trying to give suggestion.

Try to listen and use the criticism constructively and you will soon find out how it may affect your business in a positive way.

Prepare to be Failed

You cannot be a successful entrepreneur unless you accept the fact that failure is inevitable. Too much trust on the concept of success without failure will lead you to frustration. I am not saying that you should give way to the spirit of pessimism or being frustrated with bad planning, I am just giving the idea that in the event that everything is not working, you should think that it is not the end of the world yet.

There’s no need for you to feel guilty because of bad planning or failures, you just need to stand up and face whatever challenge may come along the way. Always prepare yourself with a “worst case scenario”, consider all the “what if” possibility. Count your upfront cost and be patient because revenue may not come as quickly as you think. Many entrepreneurs did not hit the target at the first try, you just have to persevere and acknowledge that failure is part of the system.

Be Real with Your Business

We cannot deny the fact that people still looking for authentic business. Only when you are real you can find respect from other people. Do not draw a façade just to please all your customers. You must be real eventhough you know that you are risking a potential customers. People understand that you cannot do everything. Although it is your utmost desire to serve and please everybody with your business, you have to accept the fact and let your customer understand about it that not all the time you can provide what they needed.

If your customer is asking you about something that is beyond the scope of your business, do not take the risk of grasping it. The opportunity that is offered to you might bring you disaster, be honest with your customer and simply tell that is not your repertoire. You can suggest alternative or other resources to compensate with their needs.

Transparency is always the rule. If you are authentic with your business, you will also get authentic customers. It is important for the business to be real to get real customers. Identify what you can and what you cannot do.

Learn to Target your Best Opportunities

As much as you wanted to broadcast your business win the broader marketplace, you should always work first with people whom you have a track record already. Although it is always best to target the wider scale of market, your best opportunity so far are those clients you already know and have worked with.

It is a discipline to always work on your business with your closes colleagues. You cannot penetrate in the wider market unless you learn to build foundation with people you’ve already cultivated over time. They are those people who are open to listen to your message. Eventually, they can be of help for you to take your business to the next level. Through them, you can get referrals which will help your business to grow.

Socialize Yourself and Your Business with Others

Starting a new small business can be lonely especially if you are handling it in a solo flight. You must be careful not to isolate yourself with others. There are a lot of ways to socialize your business with others so as not to stay isolated and away from any latest development in your market.

In order to become successful with your business venture, learn to reach out to others by joining or being a part of professional organizations. Attend local meetings and be willing to spend some of your time dealing with other people and businesses who share your interest and niche. Be involved, and help get your clients involved.

One of the best way to activate your business’ social involvement is by joining Social Media which will allow interaction between you, the people who are doing the same things as yours and your market. Consider professional networking platforms, such as LinkedIn, facebook and twitter. Invest on your relationship with others to alleviate the peril of isolation-induced discouragement. You can go solo with your business, but should not alone.

Establish and Protect your Identity

The most simple and most effective lesson that all small business owners must note is to keep and protect their identity. Your best armor towards invading the market lies behind your logo, your tagline, and your message to the mark. It is always important that people can quickly grasp on your identity. Establish something that is memorable so that people can identify your business and get the hang of it.

You should start by naming your business. Try to keep an eye on the available name and urls in the internet and establish a great trademark. A business should always establish rapport with the market and to establish a good rapport, you must create an identity in which every market can relate to.

Act as an Expert on Your Small Business

One biggest lesson that you should learn when running a small business is to develop and show your expertise towards what you are doing. You can show off what you got and attract people’s attention towards what you can do and what you can offer and not with the background noise. Your customers should see you and your business on a signal which shows something that you can boast off.

You just have to ensure that you know what you are doing. To act as an expert, you must do or offer things that is narrow and specialized enough so that you may not look like a loser. Demonstrate your expertise by activities such as writing articles, doing book and conference reviews, and interviewing thought-leaders. You can employ various activities while figuring out your expertise and handle your business in an expert way.

Back Your Business Goals With A Burning Desire

I found an inspiring article from Brian Tracy simplifying seven steps to small business success. And this is my favorite line from his article:

set a goal and back it with a burning desire.

Like me, I am pretty sure you will get a lot of lesson from it. Check out: Seven Simple Steps to Small Business Success. Truly inspiring and informative!