In the World of Business, Thinking Beyond the Basics Can Often Bring You Closer to Success. But First You Must Understand What Those Basics Are.
c2002 by Dennis Hessler
Did you know that the solution to most challenges can be found in time-tested, in-the-box principles? Now I'm a creative, imaginative guy. So why would I tell you to think in conventional terms rather than new and exciting ones?
I'm not.
What I'm talking about--and what you've got to understand if you want to be truly successful--is the importance of understanding the basics. If you're going to break the rules, if you're going to expand the rules or if you're just going to tweak the rules a little, YOU'D DARN SURE BETTER KNOW WHAT THOSE RULES ARE.
When I was in college, I would always be running into students who "thought outside the box." If we were studying Shakespearean sonnets in iambic pentameter, they would write free verse, that is, poetry with no meter, no rhyme and often no real form because it gave them "freedom" (or whatever terms we used back in the '70s).
But these guys couldn't write a simple declarative sentence in English. They were thinking and working "outside the box" because they didn't have the discipline or maybe the smarts to work "inside the box." They hid their lack of the basics behind a veil of pomposity.
As many of you may know, I'm involved in the import-export business and I show entrepreneurs time-tested ways to break into the business. The method I use and explain isn't always easy but it works and allows you to make a lot of money. But after customers spend the money to purchase my proven methods, some still insist on working "outside the box." They want to do it the faster, easier, more modern way.
These people aren't thinking outside the box. They're just lazy. And usually they're unsuccessful. If they had taken the time to work "inside the box," they would have learned that their methods aren't new at all. They would have learned there are good reasons their "outside the box" method won't work.
So they don't take the time to learn the basics. And they fail.
Picasso had to learn perspective before he became a cubist painter. James Joyce had to learn simple subject-verb agreement before he could write ULYSSES. They learned how to use the tools. They mastered the tools. Then they moved outside the box.
The entrepreneurs who are successful master the basics, modify them slightly, and then move forward. And here's an ugly fact of life. The truly successful entrepreneurs--and I'm talking about everybody from Henry Ford to Bill Gates--aren't the "out of the box" thinkers, anyway. Usually they "borrow" and build upon innovative work done by someone else.
If you're a ballplayer, learn how to field and throw to first base. If you're a new parent, learn how to warm the formula without overheating it. If you're a scientist, work at understanding the scientific method and how it's used to acquire new knowledge.
And if you're an entrepreneur, learn the basics first. Figure out how to develop a product that will sell. Learn how to cut costs. Inspire your workers or distributors or affiliates to provide better customer service. Answer your email Return phone calls. The basics.
Then you're ready to think outside the box. And by then you'll have a fuller understanding of what rules you're breaking and what it means to break them.
Dennis Hessler is an international trade consultant and publisher. He recently published an ebook on lessons he's learned over the years about how to sell through the mail and over the Internet. It's called "39 Myths About How to Make Money Selling Information Products or How I break All the Rules and Make Thousands Every Month." You may contact Dennis at:
Spyglass Point Productions P.O. Box 13141 Pensacola, FL 32591 USA Phone: 850-438-5527 www.spyglasspoint.com/myths Dennis@spyglasspoint.com
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