I’ve co-founded three successful businesses, and have been a part of over 1,000 others getting launched through them. I’ve learned that those who focus on the small, consistent wins always outperform in the long run. Just to be clear, I’m talking about people focused on real, cash flowing businesses, not money chugging VC startups.
In business, it’s easy to get tied up in the grandeur of BIG IDEAS. However, it’s very important to tie your big ideas to grounded reality of daily action. The best thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to focus on daily base hits and doubles. Proving yourself with daily base hits and doubles is what will set you apart and create the life changing opportunities.
What do I mean by that? I mean that your actions should be focused on the small things that you can control. You want to pepper in your swings for the fences with actions that you know will get you on base. As you get on base, and start getting some runs in over time, it creates substantial traction.
Traction creates momentum that increases your appeal, trustworthiness, and social proof. It also tends to bring with it, home runs.
The Reason Most People Avoid It
Focusing on small wins isn’t sexy. It’s picking up the phone and making 100 calls a day to potential retailers to carry your product. It’s calling your customers and asking for a reference. It’s getting one customer, and caring deeply about them making sure they have the best experience possible. It flips the “if I can get 1% of this market” approach on it’s head, and takes a bottom up vs. top down approach.
Consistency Is Key
Consistency creates long term results that no short term “pop” can compete with. It also increases the likelihood that you will get more attention as people view you as a trusted and reliable source. Your network expands. Your happy customer base expands. All of the little, consistent actions you take, build upon one another.
No Overnight Success
It was in year 9 and 10 of the first business I started that we hit the Inc 500. I attribute that largely to the consistency of our team’s efforts over time that created a snowball effect. Acquiring new partners became easy. Instead of searching for deals, we started hitting the tipping point of having so many requests coming in that we couldn’t even vet them all. We were able to turn that into becoming more selective about who we work with, and having higher quality partners. Recently, I’ve taken it back to operating as if it’s day one. It’s amazing what an impact that can have on your culture and on your direction.
So, for all of the aspiring entrepreneurs out there, I hope you found this helpful. You’re welcome to connect with me on LinkedIN at /in/ericcorl.
Eric Corl is a 3X Inc 5000 award recipient and the co-founder of a number of startups including Idea Buyer, and Fundable.
