What you need to succeed

To achieve success fifty or sixty years ago, even ten years ago, required a completely different way of thinking than it does today. Why ? Fierce competition.

Competition is everywhere now and it's growing fast. Today, business works more like the 'law of the jungle' than ever before. Only the fittest will survive. There is no room for complacency or second best. If your business (including your blogging business) is weak it will die or be chomped up by a stronger or more aggressive competitor.

To make matters worse, customers are more educated and demanding (or picky), and indeed your competition may not be who you believe it is any more. Your competition is not just the rival business on the opposite side of the road that sells the same products as you, but every other business out there, whether or not they sell the same products as you. In the twenty-first century, 'retail' competes for the consumer's dollar with 'entertainment'.

'Your competition is Disneyland, McDonald's or Sears'. Your reaction to this may be the same as mine was. How can anyone suggest these companies, thousands of miles away, are competing with me when my business is absolutely nothing like theirs?

The answer is simple. Disneyland, McDonald's and Sears (and thousands of others) set an incredibly high and ever-increasing standard in customer service and expectations. Once your customer has experienced their level of service, the service they were once happy with from you is no longer good enough. And your customer has thousands of their choices - unless you continually lift your game.

'Yesterday's world records are today's qualifying times'. This is as true in business as it is in sport.

We can no longer afford to be close enough to be good enough. We need to be good enough to be good enough.

SEO: 你必须成功 | ما تحتاج إلى النجاح | 당신이 성공하려면 무엇이 필요 | Что нужно для успеха | Lo que usted necesita para tener éxito | Was Sie benötigen, um erfolgreich