Are seminars a powerful catalyst for business success? Or are
seminars an entrepreneurial addiction that prevents success?
At their best, seminars are powerful catalysts for success.
Especially for online entrepreneurs who spend much of their time
working in solitary confinement in front of a computer, a seminar
is a window to a larger world. At a seminar, you can meet
other entrepreneurs. You can find joint venture partners. You
can discover new and exciting technology. Some of the most
successful online entrepreneurs claim that attending seminars was
the most significant breakthrough factor in their success.
At the same time, the same qualities that can make seminars such
catalysts for entrepreneurial success can also sabotage your
business. The problem lies in the essential nature of
entrepreneurs.
In his description of the E-Myth, Michael Gerber has taught us to
think of three functions, often residing within the same person:
the visionary, the manager, and the technician.
When a visionary entrepreneur attends a seminar, the experience
is much like a child being set free in a toy store. The
visionary entrepreneur gets new ideas, new contacts, and visions
of new possibilities. The experience is wonderfully energizing.
The challenge is that a successful business needs more than an
entrepreneur excited with new visions. Massive success results
from focused and sustained action on the primary vision of the
business. And this is where seminars can be the downfall of the
entrepreneur. An endless stream of seminars, with their hot new
technologies, new contacts, and new possibilities, can become an
addiction for the entrepreneur who loves the excitement of new
ideas.
One seminar can ignite new visions and possibilities. Multiple
seminars can create so many visions and possibilities that the
visionary entrepreneur keeps bouncing from one exciting new idea
to the next, never maintaining focus long enough to turn any of
the visions into reality.
Business success requires steady and disciplined focus to
translate the exciting vision into measurable reality. In other
words, the entrepreneur needs to go to work on the vision of the
business, not come up with new ideas.
This entrepreneurial addiction to new ideas and the heady
atmosphere of seminars is very real to me. I have just returned
from yet another seminar. During the seminar, my mind was
focused on exciting possibilities. At the same time, attending
the seminar meant a four-day distraction from work on my
business.
It happens every time I go off to another seminar. I lose
momentum and lose track of what I was doing. I come back with
new ideas, but the truth is, I don't need new ideas as much as I
need focused attention on the core vision of my business.
The most basic business question is the one that is hardest for
many entrepreneurs to answer: "What business are you in?" Many
entrepreneurs don't know what business they are in because they
keep bouncing from one hot new idea to the next. And since they
don't know what business they are in, they cannot be known for
that business.
Having a clear core vision of your business is what will set you
apart from other energetic entrepreneurs with more ideas than
follow-through. Continual loss of focus on the core vision is
the real casualty of too many seminars.
It is much like my son's soccer team when he first started to
play as a young child. Before the children learned positioning
and strategy, they all moved as a group, chasing the ball up and
down the field. As they learned to play the game, they learned
to hold their positions and let the ball come toward them.
Success in business is much like success on the soccer field.
It is not a matter of chasing the ball all over the field. It is
impossible to maintain focus while bouncing from visionary idea
to visionary idea. It is a matter of knowing your position,
having a strategy, and maintaining focus on the object of the
game.
And so are seminars powerful catalysts for business success or
distracting addictions that prevent success? Seminars can be
catalysts or they can be distractions. The critical difference
hinges on your ability maintain focus on your core business
vision.
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