If you know me, you know that I am a rabid sports fan. I am very competitive by nature, and I love to watch sports. This summer I began watching a sport from my childhood…baseball. I watch baseball for a few reasons. Baseball is a thinking man’s sport. It isn’t about sheer power and strength. It is about a pitcher and a hitter outsmarting each other. The pitcher’s goal is to get a hitter to chase a pitch that they could never hit. A batter’s goal is to be patient on the bad pitches and force a pitcher to pitch a ball that you can hit and drive. Both the batter and the pitcher, even the viewer have to have extreme patience.
In a game where getting a hit 29 percent of the time is considered good, a lot of patience is required of the viewer and the players. When the ball does get into play, you will see the most athletic fielding that you will ever see in your life. There is nothing like your team being down in a game with the bases loaded and the batter hitting a grand slam.
In the long history of baseball, there have only been 23 perfect games thrown by a pitcher. In a perfect game 27 batters come up to bat, and 27 batters are retired sequentially. You can throw a no hitter, meaning that no batter gets a hit, but someone may have reached base on an error or a walk. Pitchers that throw a perfect game are legendary.
Business is not a war. It is just a simple game of baseball. Being in business you have competitors. Your job is to outsmart your competitors and have a better product or service. You went into business for yourself because you have honed your craft, and you feel that your business is different from your competitors. However, one of the hardest things to do in business is to be patient. You need to grow your business slowly and steadily. You can’t expect to go into business today and be a million dollar company tomorrow. You may want to expand right away, but part of the fun of being in business is watching your business grow. To see clients get what you are trying to do. For them to appreciate you. For them to realize that no one can provide the service or product that you can. That takes a tremendous amount of patience.
You know in your heart that you have the knowledge and the tools to operate at Point B, but you are stuck at Point A. Getting to Point B in your business takes time. After getting to Point B there will be a Point C and a Point D and so on. You will never run out of points to get to. However you can’t expect to open your doors tomorrow and have eight locations next month. It takes a very long time to build a brand. It takes a long time to get your message across.
If you are doing something new or groundbreaking, you are going to hear no a lot. But one day a client or customer will just get it. They will tell their friends, who will in turn tell their friends, and before you know it, you will have a viable business. All of that takes a tremendous amounts of patience.
When growing your business. Think of watching baseball. When you get bored, just keep watching. Who knows, there might be a triple play or a grand slam coming. There will be a lot of routine ground balls and some strike outs, but one day you might just see a perfect game. Then you will be legendary.