WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT BUSINESS BY SKIING
I am so lucky to have spent the last ten days in Whistler, one of my favourite places in the world to ski. Let me just say that I am in no way an expert skier, I am intermediate at best. Have I improved, yes. Do I have a long way to go, definitely. It is a constant process of trying, failing, improving and falling over, but when you get it right there is no better feeling. During this recent trip to Canada and now somewhat obsessive quest to improve, I realised that the journey of learning to ski is similar to building a company. The basic guiding principles that were helping me develop my technique on the slopes are almost identical to what it takes to succeed in business. My goodness are both an adventure with euphoric highs and epic lows. Times when you wonder what on earth you are doing, navigating down an insanely steep cliff in thick white fog/leaving a full-time job to become an entrepreneur. But, as the saying goes, if its equal parts terrifying and exciting you should definitely do it. So, behold- the six things I learned from skiing that can be applied to success in business.
CONQUER YOUR FEAR
About 95% of skiing is realising that you’re not going to die. In fact the whole process is entirely counter intuitive. The more you lean down the hill, the more control you have. You have to let go and allow the skis to work the way they were meant to. The harder you resist, giving into fear and leaning back up towards the ‘safety’ of the mountain the more you will gain speed and lose your balance. The same can be said for business. You have to lean in and conquer your fear. Cut out the comparison and questioning. Because doubt kills more dreams that failure ever will.
IT’S A BALANCING ACT
No doubt. Skiing is all about balancing your body weight across the right areas of two long planks. Different conditions require different pressure. Generally, carve turns with your weight on the inside edge of the downhill ski are your best friend, but hit powder and it’s a different sport altogether. You are constantly reading the terrain and juggling the five million do’s and don’ts going through your mind. Running a business is pretty much the same. You wear five million different hats and are always trying to get the mix of focus right. The thing to remember is that this is completely normal and quite likely you’ll never get the balance exactly right.
JUST PERSEVERE
So if at first you don’t succeed, try try again. We’ve been taught this since we were kids, to get back up and just keep going. Because when skiing, you will fall over. You will have to walk back up the hill to retrieve your skis. You will have empty the cold snow out of your jacket. You will lose your pole as you come off the chairlift. Getting back on the horse isn’t easy, but if you’re willing to do what others won’t, you will get ahead. If you get up that little bit earlier, you will be rewarded with no queues at the bottom of your favourite run. If you show up in your business, on your social platforms, on your blog (**note to self), for your clients and your customers success will be yours. Be persistent, stay consistent.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
The close cousin of perseverance is practice. Different to just stubbornly forging ahead, practice is all about diligently making time to refine your skills. With skiing, its time on the snow. Anyone I know who is a fantastic skier has done at least one season somewhere fabulous. Once you’re taught the basics you just implement over and over and over again until it becomes second nature, like driving. When you first start your business or brand, you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. You learn so much just by throwing yourself in and doing. You learn what to do, and almost more importantly what not to do, and then repeat what’s working like your life depends on it. Practice each and every day and you will improve. There are no short cuts or cheat sheets, you just have to rinse and repeat.
SEEK EXPERT GUIDANCE
You think you can just do it by yourself. By persevering and practicing and then practicing some more. How hard could it be? You just point your skis down the hill and off you go right? Wrong. You absolutely need to be shown what to do by someone who has been doing it for a long time. Otherwise, you’re just practicing the wrong thing. You need to understand those basic principles, the foundation building skills that if you remember, are exactly the opposite of what you think is right. There are intricacies as minute as rolling your ankle correctly or applying pressure to the ball of your foot only, things so seemingly small but things that make all the difference. In business, similarly leave it to the experts. Let them lead you to greater understanding and performance. Understand that sometimes, no matter how many hats you’re wearing, you just can’t do everything.
IT’S MORE FUN WITH FRIENDS
There is nothing quite like the joy of skiing with a group of friends. Even if it’s just one other friend/husband, it elevates the fun of this incredible hobby. The power of sharing is palpable on the mountain, when you find a hidden pocket of powder or stumble across a daylight disco at the very top of the alps, having someone to turn to and say “oh my god how amazing is this” validates your happiness and increases your excitement tenfold. Business is the same. Sharing your experiences with like-minded entrepreneurs assures you that you’re not alone. Checking in with your customers or meeting your clients face to face builds relationships and injects an all-important humanity into to the day to day of running a brand. You will always feel better when you talk something through, brainstorm an idea with your team or share the burden of a problem with a trusted mentor.
I adore skiing and I love my business. It doesn’t mean that neither are hard. Both are on the outer limits of hard actually. So its interesting to compare such two seemingly different pursuits to find that they have so many similarities. For me, I think no. 1 is the biggest lesson and if you can master it the rest almost just falls into place.
Happy skiing/brand building!