The real reason why you will never be successful...and how you can fix it!

Does everyone remember in Rocky IV when Apollo Creed  is at the top of his game it but when push came to shove and he had to put everything in the line, he tragically lost his life to Ivan Drago in an exhibition match.

Why is it that the world number one boxer in the US lost to a relative nobody in the boxing circuit in a simple exhibition match.

I think the answer is simple, I believe that Apollo Creed got comfortable, and when you get comfortable you simply can't win. You see...I'm not saying that Apollo Creed slacked off, because he worked hard to get to where he was. The true kernel of information here is that he stopped working hard to hard to retain his position as the champion, he got comfortable being at the top and he didn't think that anyone was chasing him, and that's where he went wrong.

The truth is there is always someone chasing, there is always someone working harder, there is always someone who is coming after you, hungry to succeed.

Warren Buffett isn't the richest man in the world because he got rich then stopped investing, LeBron James isn't called the king because he worked hard to get to the NBA just to stop training. So why should you slack off in Business.

You have to hustle and work hard every single day to get to the top, and then you have to work hard every single day to stay there. Because if you think that everyone's going to watch you rise to the top and then stay content with you being there, you thought wrong.

The answer to this conundrum is continual growth. And continual growth is something I personally believe in, I think we need to keep learning, not only in universities or schools, but I think we need to keep learning in every facet of our life, we need to research and understand every facet of our business. Because with continual learning comes continual growth, and with continual growth comes success.

So if you want to be Rocky Balboa instead of Apollo Creed, then it's time to start working.

Why people fail in business

I recently entered the startup game and I couldn't help but notice that every single article or video on the internet was telling me the same thing. Start-ups are risky, start-ups cost money, start-ups fail.

But the truth is start-ups don't fail, people fail to make start-ups a success.

I was talking to my app developers recently and they said to me that they consistently get young adults straight out of High School or University that want to make the next Uber, or the next Facebook, or whatever the latest trend is at the time.

These people have an idea but don't have the strategy to execute, they don't have the self-awareness to understand their flaws and their shortfalls.

I have done a decent amount of tertiary study, and I have a certain level of experience in corporate governance and leadership at the operational level. But when I decided to start my business I knew that I would need to bring people on board who were specialists in their given trade.

I knew next to nothing about brand and marketing, I also knew next to nothing about accounting, except from what I learnt in my first year of a Bachelor's degree which is next to useless in the business world.

As a leader you have to recognise your own strengths and weaknesses. From that self analysis you have to understand what your deficit is. Once you've done this analysis you can begin to plug the gaps with people who believe in your vision.  And this brings me to my next point….the people.

I had a friend who worked with an accelerator program in Melbourne, and what he said was that the vast majority of start-ups failed not because the idea was poor, or the money ran out. The true friction point for the majority of these startups was in-house fighting.

He said that he saw a number of awesome ideas that never saw the light of day because founders couldn't get along when the going got tough.

It is crucial that you not only pick the right people for the right job, but also pick people that can take criticism as a chance to learn with the overarching goal to create a successful business that will help the wider community, and be profitable for all those involved.

What are the key characteristics in successful business leaders?

I have researched highly successful business leaders with a cult-like dedication. What drives these people, how did they get to where they are today, what have they changed?

Even with books such as Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Outliers’, which balances the idea that the top 1% of individuals in their given field such as Bill Gates in tech perhaps only attained their success through a series of opportunistic events which they were afforded, in addition to their individual character traits.

In Bill Gates’ case, he had unhindered access to a computer from a young age when not many others did, and eventually developed an obsession with them. His unhindered access and dedication to his craft were the building blocks for Microsoft, which many of us interact with every single day.

I still believe that there are some key qualities which show a recurring theme not only in the business world, but also as leaders in my current employment as a military officer.

Adaptability

Business is not a rigid and predictable endeavour. A business plan and strategic vision can only take an entrepreneur so far, because his/her vision needs to be fluid to adapt to changing market environments.

We are living in a technological boom, already we have seen vast changes in the business landscape to a variety of sectors. Retail shopping is under threat from purely online retailers, the fast food industry is progressing into the realm of Uber eats and film/media...well...we all know the story of Kodak, and in the modern world a 13-year old can create a media content within 30-minutes in their pyjamas that would have taken businesses months of work no more than 10 years ago.

An entrepreneur has to remain adaptable to these shifts and developments, and ensure they allow flexibility for their business to adapt in kind.

An entrepreneur will always be the most devoted to their idea, because they have the vision. But they have to ensure that they are not so biased that they can’t see when they need to pivot to remain relevant within the market.

Higher tolerance for risk

There is a reason only 17% of Australians think about starting a business.

Because for the most part, we live in a society that forces us down a linear path of High School, University/Apprenticeship and then entry level job. We are led to believe this is the optimal path which leads us to work for the next 40-odd years working our way up the ranks, following direction to finally retire at 65 where we can start living it up.

I don’t agree with this model, I believe that our young adults are idealistic and can see an issue with a relevant idea that could fix it. I believe that at a younger age we should be taking these risks when we can absorb the windfall if it fails.

The risk versus reward is incredible at a young age, in terms of skills gained, potential upside if the business is successful, and the lasting impact you can create on society...why isn’t everyone having a go?

Because it is scary and hard. And for the most part, people get comfortable with their stable job that pays the bills, avoiding surprise and uncertainty. And it is scary, and it is hard, and it does create a financial burden. The stated rate for a start-up failing (does not make a trade-sale or achieve IPO) is between 75-90%!

This is why entrepreneurs have an extremely high tolerance for risk. This does not mean stupidity. This means that an individual has weighed up all of the risk, knows their chances of success, and still gives it a go anyway.

The difference between an entrepreneur and a highly successful entrepreneur is the added skill set and character qualities.

What I mean is, it’s all good to have a tolerance for risk, but if you don’t have the self-awareness to know where your shortfalls lie, if you don’t undertake additional education to continue growing your skill set, if you don’t have good networking skills, then you will simply be another entrepreneur who had a business that fell into the failure statistic I mentioned above.

Commitment

Work….and work...and work...and work some more. Hard work and persistence is the overarching factor that every successful business owner displays.

I have not read one book, listened to one podcast, or seen one documentary that said that starting a business was a cake walk.

Gary Vaynerchuk preaches this consistently, he did not have a social life, working from his dad’s liquor store on weekends and flipping bargain bin items on eBay to make money. He worked hard every day and remained humble leading to his now estimated worth in excess of $160M.

I cannot call myself successful at this point in time, because my business isn’t launching until October. But I have been working hard every single day making connections, creating content, liaising with my developers or partners, many nights until 2am, because I am driven by the long-term.

You have to be excited by what you are doing, you have to demonstrate commitment to your vision every single day for months or years on end, often with no reward. By the time I actually launch I will have been burning money for 12 whole months, with no promise of success at the end of the tunnel.

I could continue to run it for many years after with extremely slow progress, so if you are not committed, you will give up long before any success rears its head. Commitment, drive and consistent hard work/hustle is key if you want to succeed in business.

Why continual learning is crucial to success

One of the first things I learnt when doing my first outdoor adventure for my Duke of Edinburgh as a teen was that you should only drink water in the wilderness if it is flowing.

This rule has been reiterated many times in my life especially now noting my present vocation.

You see….flowing water is pure, it is moving freely and ensures your survival. If water is stagnant it attracts insects, it festers and breeds disease. In short, if you keep drinking it you will likely die from a water-borne disease.

This is the perfect metaphor for entrepreneurs. If you remain stagnant you will lose relevance. Much like in Rocky IV, if you get comfortable you will lose, because there is always someone who is chasing, someone who is working harder and smarter.

You will never know everything you need to know...but you can keep trying to. You can keep talking to specialists and drawing out information, you can keep studying sectors you don’t really understand, you can keep networking with people to increase your reach.

Lou Holtz gave an awesome speech where he mentions everyone needs just 4 things in life. He said if you don't any one of these 4 things, you will have a void in your life that you will never fill:

• Something to love
• Something to believe in
• Something to hope for, and
• Something to do

I want to focus on the fourth point. If you don't have something to do you begin to feel useless, or worthless. You lose relevance.

If you don't keep your brain working hard you will become lethargic, and lose drive. And we have already established that drive, commitment and hard-work are crucial to an entrepreneurs' success.

So keep learning, it doesn't really matter what it is, but keep your brain working. Learn the inner workings of your business, understand basic Photoshop skills or the rules of content creation, talk to your marketers and see how they create their marketing streams or Facebook ads, understand how your CFO calculates risk for certain investments.

Because with every piece of information your gather and retain, the more valuable you become. And with more value comes more success.

Comment below your thoughts on leadership growth and development, I'd love to hear some opposing opinions, or alternate viewpoints!