I watched this afternoon as a bunch of people stood up, stepped forward and got the living daylights pummeled out of them. They stood tall and after a grueling 3+ hours of warm up exercises it was an incredible feat.

I am talking about Karate not a street fight… (thank goodness!)

What I witnessed was people from youngsters to mature age, male and female do battle. As I watched it occurred to me that these people had not just put a up their hand to say “Yeah I’ll do it” but firstly they had to put in the effort to attain the skills required, then went on to train to develop those skills and sparring techniques… Wow it was intense at the end to watch the sparring, seeing people let down their guard and get hit, some fell down and got up again even though there was “some pain!!!”

Watching this I was thinking of the parallels to business. (how could I not!)

• Preparation (No plans no direction)
• Resilience - stamina (The ability to keep on keeping on)
• Conviction (You are sure it’s a great product and or service, otherwise you would not be doing it… RIGHT?)
• Goals (If you know where you are going it makes it easier to get there.)
• Decisiveness (Either a thing will happen or it won’t, often the decision is the only thing that stands in its way.)
• Comfort zone stretching (An elastic band is only working when it’s stretched.)
• Automatic functioning (the skills are already known)
• Risk taking (all business is this, the further you go the more risks seem to ‘pop up’)

All of these personal qualities relate to business, it’s probably this list and a few other points that cause sustainable and profitable businesses to make the grade.

Why is it then that there are businesses that fail, despite people knowing these guidelines? and why is it that even people that have put in the effort only get so far and stop?

Firstly it’s one thing to know the guidelines, and another thing entirely to putting them into action. Secondly some people achieve a goal and stop right there, not sure what to do next.

All of these great points take commitment, and often it’s as easy as turning up each day and learning something new, putting in the effort to plod on and look for ways to make improvements at each step.

If you want an exceptional business, then these guidelines should give you the start to a great business.

Stumble it!