Friday, January 11, 2013

What Climbing Taught Me About Business

By Stacey Shaw

When I graduated from college, I traveled around the Western U.S. for several months and finally decided to move to a small town in western Colorado. I spent the last of my money to rent a room and walked to the public library to print out my resume with the invincible optimism of a 22-year old. I didn't bother looking in the paper for employment ads. I just walked all around town, knocking on the doors of places that I'd like to work. Luckily, the first place I went hired me: Climbing Magazine.

It went down like this: I handed my resume to the office manager and told him that I would like to work there. I went home. The next morning, the Founder/Editor-in-Chief called me and said that I had walked in with my resume just minutes after he had instructed the office manager to place an ad in the newspaper for an office manager to replace him, as he was leaving the position. He said, "The fact that you walked in here looking for a job when we were about to run an ad seems like a sign to me, and I believe in those things. Can you start tomorrow?"

My lessons from the year that I worked at the magazine started there. As I learned to climb (humbly, from amazing climbers), I gained insight into many things that have served me in life and business.

Here are a few of those bits of wisdom:

  • Cold calling works. Do not be afraid to get out and ask the world for what you need.

  • Simple systems are the best systems. Don't get your ropes, knots, and anchors so complicated that they become a hazard.

  • When you are moving up, don't look down, but don't look too far up either. Place the majority of your focus on the very next handhold.

  • Without calculated risk, there is little reward. In order to reach the top and experience the view, you have to be willing to make a few risky moves.

  • Get good mentors. Be humble enough to seek out and learn from others who are way, way better at what you are doing than you are yet.

  • There is some gear that you need to invest in at the highest quality that you can afford, and other things that will work for years with duck tape repairs. Know the difference and spend accordingly.

  • Don't be afraid to be a total beginner. Everyone was, and ideally, there should be something that you are a beginner at throughout your life. That's where the fun of learning starts.

Stacey Shaw, owner of PoCards Media, is a dynamic business coach with a mission to show creative entrepreneurs how to leverage their true strengths to earn more money with greater ease and fulfillment. Visit her website for helpful advice, immediate tools, and wild inspiration. http://www.staceyshaw.com

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