Aaron Hoos

In 5 days, the 2010 Winter Olympic athletes will compete to be the best in the world. Entrepreneurs compete for a similar pinnacle of success every single day. This series of blogs will countdown to the Olympics with 31 ideas about what it takes to achieve gold in your business.

To be an Olympic-level entrepreneur, you need to sign up for the whole package.

When an athlete goes to the Olympics, they sign up for the entire package deal. They accept the hard work and training that leads up to the Olympics, they accept the effort and pressure that they face when they represent their country during the opening and closing ceremonies and during the events themselves, and they accept whatever comes after (often depending on their win or loss), be it endorsements and lucrative book deals or speaking careers or be it getting a job as a bank teller in an obscure regional bank.

Olympic-level entrepreneurs sign up for a similar package: They agree to the hard work leading up to their “competition”. They accept the stress and pressure of competing at a higher level. They accept the win-or-lose consequences at the end. They realize there is no fast track; there is no way to bypass one aspect of success. They know that deciding to be an Olympic-level entrepreneur is a big decision that changes how they play the game.

In 6 days, the 2010 Winter Olympic athletes will compete to be the best in the world. Entrepreneurs compete for a similar pinnacle of success every single day. This series of blogs will countdown to the Olympics with 31 ideas about what it takes to achieve gold in your business.

To be an Olympic-level entrepreneur, you need to work at a higher energy level.

I once read an article about the amount of food that an Olympic athlete needs to eat prior to an event. (Okay, maybe not for curling but for nearly every other sport). Their caloric intake was crazy. It was extremely high during training and then, during the Olympics, it was still pretty high. In general, athletes work at a higher energy level. I’m not talking about metaphysics here, just about their bodies as high performance machines.

Olympic-level entrepreneurs need to work at a higher energy level, too. When I stopped working for someone else and started working for myself, I noticed a huge increase in the amount of physical, mental, and emotional effort required to do the job. Olympic-level entrepreneurs can achieve that higher level energy burn faster and sustain it over a longer period of time (compared to their less-successful entrepreneurial counterparts).

In 7 days*, the 2010 Winter Olympic athletes will compete to be the best in the world. Entrepreneurs compete for a similar pinnacle of success every single day. This series of blogs will countdown to the Olympics with 31 ideas about what it takes to achieve gold in your business.

To be an Olympic-level entrepreneur, you need to be willing to fail.

In any given event, only one person will come away with gold. After them, there are a couple others that get the silver and bronze, and there will be still others who enjoyed personal victories of even being able to compete in the Olympics at all. Most will cross the finish line at least. But there will be a few who don’t even get that far. Perhaps a knee will give out while skiing. Maybe the stress of competing will cause a worrisome collapse. Or perhaps the Jamaican bobsled team will crash. Olympic athletes go to compete but they risk failure. They might win big, they might not win at all, or they might even fail miserably and not even cross the finish line. In spite of that they compete anyway, knowing full well that there are no guarantees.

Olympic-level entrepreneurs know there are no guarantees as well. They give their best and know that it might end in failure. Yes, there are some Olympic-level entrepreneurs we will never hear from because of a catastrophic failure in their business. But they will be back.

* Disclosure: I was traveling recently and didn’t always have access to the internet, so I missed a couple of publishing dates. This blog has been published and back-dated to keep the countdown sequential.

In 8 days*, the 2010 Winter Olympic athletes will compete to be the best in the world. Entrepreneurs compete for a similar pinnacle of success every single day. This series of blogs will countdown to the Olympics with 31 ideas about what it takes to achieve gold in your business.

To be an Olympic-level entrepreneur, you need to be willing to go where you need to go.

Athletes go to the Olympics, the Olympics don’t go to the athletes. Today, we can conveniently fly to whatever exotic (or non-exotic) locale the Games have to be in. But in ancient times it required a long journey to get there. Regardless of how near or far the Olympics are, one thing is true: If you don’t show up, you can’t compete.

Likewise, today’s Olympic-level entrepreneurs can work from the comfort of their home but need to be willing to go elsewhere – perhaps to work with clients or to speak or attend networking events. I’ll be honest, this one is a sticking point for me. I live in a great house in a great city and I like hanging around with my wife. I’m focused and creative in my office. I don’t write as well when I’m on the road. As a result, my not going is one factor that holds me back.

Yeah, I don’t like holding up the mirror and making that honest realization about myself. I Know it’s a “must do” for other entrepreneurs… and for me as well. The networking that comes out of trade shows, conferences, and other industry events can build your business and your position in the industry. There will come a time when I need to suck it up and make the journey myself.

* Disclosure: I was traveling recently and didn’t always have access to the internet, so I missed a couple of publishing dates. This blog has been published and back-dated to keep the countdown sequential.

In 9 days*, the 2010 Winter Olympic athletes will compete to be the best in the world. Entrepreneurs compete for a similar pinnacle of success every single day. This series of blogs will countdown to the Olympics with 31 ideas about what it takes to achieve gold in your business.

To be an Olympic-level entrepreneur, you need to ignore your competition.

In a previous blog I said that Olympic athletes know their competitors. And that is true. Going into the Olympics, they likely know what their opponents are skilled at, what areas they are weak in, and under what conditions the athlete or the opponent has the advantage. That competitive research is true up to the beginning of the event. And then it doesn’t matter after that. During the event, athletes don’t waste time and effort looking around to see if they can see their opponents. During the event they are entirely focused on winning.

Olympic-level entrepreneurs would be wise to follow the same advice: Maintain deep competitive knowledge about the competition and use that to create an advantage – but through the course of the day, the Olympic athlete ignores the competition and focuses on his or her own excellence.

* Disclosure: I was traveling recently and didn’t always have access to the internet, so I missed a couple of publishing dates. This blog has been published and back-dated to keep the countdown sequential.