10 Tips To Strengthen Your Business: Lessons Learned From Bike Racing

Posted: April 8th, 2009 | Filed under: Bike Racing and Training, Business and Entrepreneurship, Growth and Development, Productivity | Tags: Bike Racing, business coaching, business development, grow your business, improve your business, make money online |

1. Don’t be afraid of the wind and resistance. If you watch the Tour de France, you’ll see whole teams working together to keep their General Classification guy/race leader out of the wind. So, yes, it’s best to stay protected and out of the wind to conserve for the end. But sometimes, it’s takes the guts and strength to attack and ride away from the pack, alone and uncovered, that will ultimately bring in a victory. You don’t know unless you try – in fact, UCI Pro Sergio Hernandez contends that it’s his ‘guts’ to breakaway that had teams notice his performance and open the doors to his success. Not only is he stronger for being out on a solo effort, but he gathers more attention for himself and the team.

   It’s easy to let the illusion of “safety” and “conservation” keep you from taking the steps required to break through to new levels. In business, are you trying to keep yourself safe? Are you shrinking back in this economy, fearful of creating new programs and services, or attached to the comfort of your current product and service offerings, and trying to figure out how to force sales in the new economy? Dare to step out into that arena where you are uncomfortable, maybe even where you “shouldn’t” be, but know you need to be in order to grow. Dare to try something new, even if you don’t know if it’s going to work. Is there a coaching program who’s monetary investment scares you? Are you realizing you are outgrowing some of your friends and colleagues, and it’s time to move on? These can be scary choices to make, but they are also the ones that set you free and allow you to step towards the life you REALLY want.

2. Taking shortcuts leaves you empty, and maybe even without learning the lessons you were meant to learn. I admit – I am still a Category 4 racer. Ouch! That stings!….breathe…..okay. In cycling, women start at the Category 4 level, and work their way up by earning points to upgrade to Cat 3, then Cat 2, and Cat 1. Many women I started racing with have bounded up the ranks quickly, and yet, through many tears and long training hours, here I am still a Cat 4. But I am finally calm in my Cat 4-ness, and realize that I still have some lessons to learn, much as I want to be a Cat 3, and Cat 2. I feel that once I learn what I need to learn to achieve my first upgrade, my second upgrade will come quickly. Each level will bring new lessons. If I had short-cutted the process, I would miss valuable lessons that make me a more solid rider. In business, I see people trying to take short cuts all the time. Yes, they can work. No, I’m not saying it all has to be long and arduous. The key is to enjoy the process. Relax and have fun, each person and business has their own lessons to learn and own journey to take.
3. Sometimes you just have to throw your EVERYTHING in, beyond what you think you can do, to make that winning break. In business, are you selling yourself short by not giving it all? Not only does your business suffer, but the people whom your business serves don’t have the privilege of enjoying the support, services, or products you offer. I recently met Adam Stone (http://www.AdamStone.com), a brilliant artist, who shared that it was simply his gift and calling to be creative and be an artist. As a professional artist, it’s not always smooth sailing, but what a disservice to the world if he didn’t share his artwork and give people the opportunity to enjoy it? Similarly, how many people do I keep from being their best when I don’t share about the kinds of online and social media marketing I do? How many businesses could I partner with to grow in this economy if I simply opened my mouth more to share about my consulting programs? Well, I’m starting here.
4. Set goals, be motivated, but don’t forget to enjoy the scenery. It’s a process after all. Enjoy the people you meet, the successes you have along the way, however small or large. Remember that on the other side of a perceived hardship can come your greatest opportunity.
5. Recovery periods are NECESSARY to grow. I’ve seen many a cyclist burn out from over training. It’s easy to do, because the endorphins can seem addictive, and the thought is, “If this works well, more will work better!” Many of the pro cyclists I know enjoy simple coffee shop rides when they return from tough stage races, much to the surprise of the amateurs who like to throw down the hammer at every group ride, every day. Running a business requires the mental space to be creative, to make clear decisions for the company. If we’re too tired, an insidious mental fog can cloud your productivity and effectiveness, slowly pulling us down. Take at least one full day off a week. Schedule vacations, and take them! (I’m still working on this one ) Build in recovery periods throughout the day if you can. A fantastic program for increasing your personal productivity by as much as 10x is Eben Pagan’s Wake Up Productive.
6. Find a good coach. Or at least throw yourself into the ring with people better than you. You are the average of the closest 5 people around you. Your income is the average of the closest 5 people around you. Throw yourself into the ring with people who’s lifestyles and income are what you are seeking. This is not to say get rid of all of your friends, but just be aware that, as in cycling, you keep riding with slow people you are going to stay slow. Additionally, a good coach and mentor can pull you above the low roar and constant bombardment of ideas, and perfect and fine tune the idea that best works for you. If you are seeking a business coach who can pull the money-making business out of you, contact me at ‘ cynthia at cynthialou.com’.
7. Try to ride with people better than you. Listen to and learn from the conversations. I can’t tell you how much my world changed after hanging out with pro cyclists. At the amateur level, I heard a lot of complaining and blaming. There was a lot of “his fault”, “their fault”, “my bike fit’s off”, “if only I had one more GU”, the list is endless. I’ve seen pros kick butt with stomach aches, after puking up their last meals from a stomach bug, with the wrong bike fit. They just don’t complain about the petty things. They know they can believe in themselves to create results with their team. Similarly, don’t blame your lack of skills or knowledge for holding you back. You probably have everything you need to succeed, you’re just not allowing yourself to on some level. For me, PSYCH-K released all sorts of subconscious limiting beliefs that kept me scaredy and not winning. Email me at ‘cynthia at cynthialou.com’ for more information about PSYCH-K and how it might help you.
8. Nutrition is vital. But be sure to have some fun with it too. Good nutrition leads to good mental health. Good mental health makes for clearer decisions and ability to handle stress and the rigors of running a business. Obsessive, anal retentive tracking and monitoring of food makes for crazy. Obsessive, anal retentive, driven work habits also make for crazy. Trying to “force” everything in a business doesn’t allow for the Universe and your intuition to whisper tips to you. Trust me, the Universe is smarter than you.
9. Vary your training. In cycling, we work on sprinting, tempo/time-trialing, climbing. Each kind plays an important role in racing. In business, remember to engage the entrepreneur, manager, and technician. A concept I learned in Michael Gerber’s book The E-Myth, the entrepreneur is the big ideas part. The manager organizes and gets things moving smoothly. The technician does the “work”, such as a web designer doing the design, the cake baker making cakes. Imbalances in any of these areas can cause chaos, and detract from overall business effectiveness. As your business grows, you can grow staff and partners to specialize in each of the areas, i.e. hire project managers, hire designers & bakers, etc. Just like you’ll see members of a cycling team specialize in certain specialties.
10. Look good in spandex. Yes, the process of training and riding a bike has me more fit and has grown me some great muscles, but it’s also forced me to have integrity throughout my life, to live in a way that strengthens me and has me always looking to shine light on the inner demons that want to hold me back. if you’re trying to hide poor financial management, poor team management, or even a messy desk, ask yourself where your integrity is out. You can only hide it for so long, then it all starts to hang out.