Blaze New Trails to Success

The most successful people in life are those that have decided to blaze their own trail.  The further into uncharted territory they go, the more likely they are to make it into the history books if they reach their goal.  A post office employee blazed new trails into a discipline of physics most of us still can't understand, and everyone know his name, Albert Einstein.

Some people blaze trails in territory everyone thought they already knew.  Michael Dell if famous for his trail in the PC business.  The PC wasn't anything new, Mr. Dell just focused on a target of delivering it better and cheaper than anyone else.  After he hit that target, he kept adjusting the target and today the Dell website is filled with technology offerings.



I like to think of people that blaze their own trail a little bit like European rally racing.  The goal normally doesn't change during the race, it changes after the race when the planning for the next race starts.  Next time you fly by Speed Channel stop and really watch as if you were watching a high speed business.  If the teams crash or their car burns up, is that any different than running into an obsacle in business, or the market drying up?  Racers don't quit racing, entrepreneurs don't stop either.   Yes the goal may have changed and the thought of crossing that one very specific finish line is gone but racing isn't over.

True Entrepreneurs never give up.  They might close one business to open another but they never give up.  If the rally team can keep their car and engine in one piece, and they know they are going to cross the finish line then they also know they get to take a break and prepare for the next race.  The same is true in business and entrepreneurship.  When you hit goals, you need to step back, relax, and establish new goals.

During each leg of a rally race there are challenges and obstacles that seem to never end.  Sometimes the drivers fly off the path and get stuck, this happens in business more than any entrepreneur wants to ever admit.  Another aspect of rally racing we can all bring to life is the navigator.  Every driver has someone else they are depending on to help them find the best route around obstacles and to keep them on the correct time line in some types of racing.  The Navigator keeps the car moving between where they are at any given point and the finish line.  In business, you can find as many navigators as it takes to help you get where you need to go.

The race of the entrepreneur is different because each person gets to choose their own pace.  Michael Dell's company normally won't even start building your PC until you order it.  Clearly a much slower method of delivery than walking into a Big Box Store and buying a computer off the shelf.  In business speed does not equal effectiveness.

You might only be 100 feet from your goal but you can't even see it because the obstacle is so big that stands between you and your goal.  A road racer might have a mountain, a river or a canyon to get around.  Some will try and go across which might be slower yet more direct.  The distance to the goal isn't relevant either.  You can be 100 feet from the finish line, and if you or your navigator decides to take some new route, it could take days to cover a distance that should have taken mere seconds.  Distractions in life happen.  Success requires focus.

The most successful entrepreneurs can visualize a goal that may not even exist, and yet some how they get there.  Some make a road map like a Rally Racer and hope to get to the finish line, others just blaze completely new trails in search of something truly unique.

The one thing I can tell you is that blazing your own trail is the wildest ride you will ever go on.  You will have ups and downs like you have never experienced and be challenged in ways you never imagined.  Maybe that is why theme parks are so popular, anyone can get a taste of the thrills and fears that every entrepreneur has without taking any real risks.  The entrepreneurs are just the ones who get addicted.

Just remember every time you cross the finish line, it is time to ask “So, now what?”