Blind Leading the Blind

Let's get right into the blind leading the blind with an example using kids. What if you had a child that wanted to learn how to play baseball? I'll assume you admit to knowing nothing about baseball fundamentals so you decide to send your kid to a coach for help.

Very smart move. Now how do you choose this coach for your very impressionable child while you pay for it with your hard earned money?

Would you take them to a gym teacher that teaches kids baseball on the side but has no particular baseball experience? Would you take him to a little league coach that is nothing but a huge baseball fan coaching a group of tykes because his child is on the team? Would either of these types of people be worth $50 an hour? $20 an hour? $5 an hour?

The obvious answer to all of these questions is just plain NO.

So who would you trust with your child and your money? Well, my thoughts would be a High School or College coach. Or someone that has played organized baseball at a high level such as in college or professionally. That would certainly be worth the money and time and would provide a huge value.

Of course the method of coaching and teaching would also be a factor. Do they coach on an individual basis, as a group or a combination of both. Do they have instructional videos available for self learning? All of these ways have their merits and probably should be tried to find out which method or combination would work best for the individual.

So what exactly is my point here? Well, there's actually a bunch so let's break into them.

First, every athlete from beginner to elite pro, has had and still has a coach and teacher to learn new things, keep them on track, and hold them accountable for whatever mental mistakes they make so they can avoid doing them again. These coaches have been above the athlete's current level. This allows them to teach the unknown and prepare for the next level before they are handed off to another coach.

If they haven't reached the level the athlete is going for, they can only do so much in coaching them to a higher level. Experience at this higher level is very often a must but hands on knowledge of the basics are definitely needed.

When an athlete gets help from someone who has never played the game and is taking a guess at the basics from say watching games on TV... it's the blind leading the blind.

Now let's bring this back to your business. Every successful business owner has had, and continues to have, contact from a mentor, coach, or advisor that has already been in their shoes before with the hands on experience to help them out.

Do they take advice on operating and building their business from someone that has never even owned a business before? Of course not.

Do they look for answers from people that have never done anything but read other people's business books or has an academic business degree? I sure hope not since we would be back to the blind leading the blind again.

Are you getting my point yet? I'm pretty sure you are.

Even Bill Gates doesn't know everything about business. He surrounds himself with smart people as his employees and experienced smart business people as his mentors. Just like you, he needs the input from others that have personally met the milestones he's looking at which is needed to draw from their experience.

Don't be an island in running and building your business. But also don't just read books (especially by authors who have never left the security of a paycheck based job) and go to meetings that surround you with other information craving entrepreneurs.

Find a mentor and coach (or more than 1 for that matter) that has already been where you want to go and has the ability and desire to share that knowledge with you. Do it individually and/or in a group but make sure that leader you are following is a true experienced mentor and not a down sized Fortune 500 Vice President.

I'm telling you this help is worth its weight in gold especially to speed up the process in reaching your goals. Think about how much that's really worth to you in terms of money and time spent.

Keep on keepin' on.