Your Success is Not a Formula

I’m a big fan of predictive data analytics.    

While I’m a creative type–marketer, actress, writer–I greatly admire that science and statistics can help us predict many things such as the last amazing solar eclipse, how strong a car seat needs to be to protect a child in a crash, climate change (yes, people, it’s real. Stop it.) 

But factor in a human element and those predictions can go sideways. We all saw this in the last U.S. Presidential election. Models can be wrong when it comes to complex human behavior. You can run all the stats in the world on which team will win the Super Bowl next year, but you may not predict injuries, or how adrenaline and moxie can force a mediocre quarterback to perform superhuman feats when it matters most. 

While there are markers of what will make a business succeed or fail, there is no true formula for your business success. 

As you may know, I’m addicted to the Jeopardy! game show. I’m such a freak, I actually record the episodes that I’m not able to watch and “binge watch” as a treat to myself.  It’s the most endearing of my vices, if I do say so myself. #DontJudge 

Recently, a bartender has been demolishing the competition night after night, racking up (to date) about $300,000. He’s competing against lawyers, scholars, scientists–many older than he. Still the bartender is besting them all. 

If he’d let himself get caught up in head games about his profession or about how others with their fancy degrees and academic lives were somehow “smarter” than him, he’d have lost by now.  

He has prepared and trained for this. But he closes that last-mile gap to success with confidence and determination. 

It’s beautiful to watch. 

Yes, mindset won’t make a failing business or an ill-conceived product succeed. But there are enough saboteurs out there without you adding to them. 

Create a thoughtful plan. Do your homework. Where you have skill gaps, seek help, take a valuable course, or hire a consultant.  

And then stop the trash talk in your head, such as “I’m not enough of an expert” or “I’m just not a good marketer” or “I hate sales and promoting myself.” Just go out there and make it happen. 

If you’re ready to finally tackle this whole “brand and marketing” thing, step-by-step, you may just love my Brand Bootcamp self-guided digital course.  Seriously, you’ve got this stuff down – you just need clarity, confidence and focus to do it right!