A Business Lesson From The Ski Slopes

I’m currently away on holiday snowboarding and the video above is from our first day on the slopes. The first video is what happens when you’ve only been back on a snowboard for literally 5 minutes, and your 7 year old asks you to do a jump. The second video is from later in the day.

So what on earth does this have to do with business? Well… I see business owners taking advice from so called experts in their field who talk the talk yet don’t walk the walk. For example, social media “experts” who are busy telling people how to make it work for them, yet don’t take their own advice and don’t have a decent social media presence. This isn’t confined to the social media sector by the way.

So don’t do what I did, and take advice from a 7 year old who’s just learning to ski, with no experience of snowboarding. In a business sense, if you’re looking to get help then do check out that person’s/company’s credentials; do they have a great track record in this area? Have they already been there and done that so have the relevant experience? Have they come recommended or have testimonials that can be verified? If not then I’d suggest finding someone who does check all those boxes.

The second lesson I took from that first day is a simple one. I attempted that jump while unprepared and not ready to, and failed miserably. I hurt both my shoulder and knee in the process (even now, lifting my arm above my shoulder really hurts!) but I didn’t just write snowboarding off as unsuccessful and go home. I picked myself up off the floor and got the next lift up, took it easy for the rest of the day and found my feet again. Once I had more experience and the confidence to do so, I was able to be successful and make (and more importantly land!) a jump.

Yes you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone sometimes, and you shouldn’t wait for everything to be 100% perfect (in your head at least) before going for something. But at least have a good idea of what you’re doing, and how you can achieve it. Then you need to put the effort in and practice. That way, you will get good enough to achieve what you want to do.

And the above advice doesn’t just work for snowboarding…