Practice Makes Permanent

by Joey St. John

Natalie Coughlin, the most decorated female athlete at the past two summer Olympics and 11 time Olympic medal winner, was asked if she could see other swimmers in the pool when she competes. Two things she said in response to that are directly applicable to us as franchisees. Read this quote slowly: “The other seven swimmers in the pool do not affect me at all unless I let them.” Natalie then went on to say, “If I focus on anything other than my race, I find it difficult to swim in a straight line.”

There is a lot of talk at times about competition, and there are certainly other “swimmers” in our pool as franchise owners. When it comes right down to it though, aren’t we the only ones who give them any power to affect what we do and how we do it? It is important to know who your competition is, what they do well, and where they are in relation to you physically. But when the gun goes off, do you have any control over them or how other people perceive them? If you are struggling with that answer, it is NO. Their power only manifests when you allow your fear of them to distract you. Then you stop swimming in a straight line. Competition is validation that your product is worth having, and a door opened by anyone is a door opened for you.

So what can you control? Only what you do. In most franchise situations, there aren’t an insurmountable number of things you have to do to be successful, but you do have to do them over and over and over again, and practice makes perfect right? Wrong. Practice makes permanent. Show up every day, work hard to make your business great, surround yourself with great employees, and keep letting people see you in the “pool”. You will win by being positive, energetic, consistent, and focused on delivering your best performance. Competition will come and go, especially if they are more worried about what you are doing than what they are.

Regardless of what industry your franchise choice has placed you in, there is likely to be someone else competing for the same customers you are. I don’t mean to oversimplify the challenges in business ownership, but the point is that it is much easier to overcomplicate them by worrying about anything other than improving yourself. On your mark, get set....

Joey St. John
VP of Operations
JumpBunch

Learn more about JumpBunch at topfranchises.franchisebusinessreview.com.

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