I remember my teachers and professors telling me how important it is to know and understand where we came from. The old adage, ‘history repeats itself,’ has some merit but can also be devastating if not challenged. Let me explain…
In business we tend to look back the previous year and use it as a benchmark for future sales projections as well as hot and cold trends. There is definitely some valuable lessons in this data. You have to make sure it doesn’t have an effect on your drive and motivation to be on top of your game 12 months a year. I have two examples for you:
A very good client of mine owns a computer business in which the ‘industry’ will tell you that business will always slow down in the summer. The ‘industry’ will tell you that people are on vacation because kids are out of school, people aren’t thinking about expanding business during the summer months, etc.
Well, my client decided to stop paying attention to history and figure out how to do more business by getting more referrals leading to getting more clients as well as getting repeat business out of past clients. He put a few guerrilla marketing tactics in place and low and behold his business has double during the summer months while also cutting expenses by 40%. That’s what I am talking about!
Forget the fact that history tells you business will slow in the summer. Go buck the trend and rewrite the history books. That is what true pioneers do.
Too many times we use history as a crutch to explain why we aren’t doing more business or why business is slow. That is a wealth vampire and should be warded off by driving a stake though its heart. Winners find ways to win. Wealthy people find ways to attract wealth through opportunities. These people don’t let history dictate what will happen in their businesses. You can’t either.
So, if I were to go back to history class today in my industry I have a feeling I would get an ‘F’ because I have bucked the trends and made my own ‘history’ book. I wonder how many people could pass my history test?
