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How to Prepare for Your Wake-Up Call

March 27, 2014 by Rosemary 4 Comments

My Academy Award slipped through my grasp when I was in college.

Although I was a Political Science major, I had signed up for Acting as an elective. Sure that I would accidentally become the next Meryl Streep, I emoted my guts out, hung around with artsy friends who were making student films, and made it into the school musical.

There was just one tiny problem.

I was a terrible actor.

In the same way the Hindenberg was a terrible blimp.

And I only realized it when my acting teacher told me I’d better withdraw from the class or she was going to fail me. (Seriously? Who flunks the acting elective?)

Sometimes it takes an outside, objective force to bring you to your senses when you’re in the throes of a bad idea. A wake up call.

wakeup call

Recognizing When to Pivot

Starting a new business is the ultimate gamble. You’re pulling up a chair to the poker table and pushing all of your chips to the center.

It takes a special kind of guts to go beyond having a great idea, and actually start something that creates value.

It’s wonderful to have guts.

But it’s more important to keep perspective on the situation. Blindly charging ahead without ever stopping to evaluate your strategy is not smart.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein

In gambling, you’re taking a calculated risk in order to potentially earn a big reward. Business is the same thing. You don’t have to put all of your chips on the table at once. You can test some ideas, play a few hands while you evaluate your fellow poker players.

When Odeo became Twitter, there was no guarantee that short, wonky status messages would become something that dominated the entertainment industry (hello, hashtag fever). The founders got the wake-up call that podcast subscriptions were about to be gobbled up whole by iTunes, and made a rapid course change.

Just because you decide to change direction, doesn’t mean success is guaranteed either. The jury is still out on whether Fab’s revamp from a social site to a shopping curation engine has worked.

The point is that when the wake-up call comes, you need to paying attention. You need to have resources you can marshal to respond to the call.

Make Sure You Recognize the Wake-Up Call

  • Have someone around who will speak the truth. Don’t hire yes men (or women).
  • Don’t fall in love with your own ideas. Keep an open attitude toward your creations, and allow the oxygen of alternatives into the picture.
  • Read, read, and read some more. Always be learning from others and improving your knowledge base.
  • Build in time to stop and evaluate the numbers. Look brutal reality in the eye on a regular basis.

Are you prepared for a wake-up call?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Photo Credit: Alan Cleaver via Compfight cc

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Filed Under: Strategy/Analysis, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, business, pivot, strategy

Comments

  1. Sarah @ Sprout Social says

    March 27, 2014 at 2:51 PM

    Great topic, Rosemary! Knowing when to pivot is such a coveted skill to have, though I think executing the actual change is hard for many.

    I can relate when I’m writing. Often, I’m faced with a piece that just isn’t communicating the topic I’m trying to get across. In that case, I usually start rewriting then scrap the old one.

    I really try to take an objective perspective (even if I had thought it was super witty or had some great puns) and hold myself to the appropriate edits and let go of the incomplete thoughts so that the post is the best it can be!

    Reply
  2. John @ Success Countdown says

    March 28, 2014 at 2:50 PM

    I believed I am fully prepared for a wake up call. That helps me become a better person and that push me to improve and never stop learning.

    Reply
  3. rosemary says

    March 31, 2014 at 11:58 AM

    Sarah, I’m so with you! We all need someone who will help us get past that resistance. (Thanks for stopping by!)

    Thanks John!

    Reply
  4. 24x7direct inbound contact centre says

    February 15, 2017 at 7:05 AM

    So great work for informing us of the possibilities and following a certain path.

    I really appreciate your hard work an giving us some information and inspiring others to follow.

    Thanks so much.

    Reply

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