What does it take to be successful in business?

I’m guessing you can begin listing a dozen things right off the top of your head. I know I can - clear vision, business plan, marketing plan, metrics, proper positioning in a highly refined niche market, branding, marketing message, growth strategies, solid business structure, etc. The list just goes on and on.

But one thing is missing from my list - and maybe yours. Rocky Balboa knows what it is. It’s what made him successful as a boxer - and yes, I know he’s a fictional character. That one thing…perseverance - steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

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I have a friend who’s been self-employed in one way or another for more than ten years. She’s brilliant, caring and a really good communicator. Anyone who works with her immediately sees her huge range of gifts.

But this friend of mine - whose name I’m not going to mention - hasn’t made much of her business. Well, I should say businesses.

You see over the past twelve years or so she’s had, maybe, eight businesses. All have focused on providing some array of services based on her varied background. Each one has taken a somewhat unique approach to helping people overcome various problems in their lives. And each one could have probably been quite successful.

But here she sits, more than a decade later, struggling to make ends meat. She keeps wondering how she’s not successful when she has all these great ideas of how to help people and make money doing it. Yet she never sticks long enough in one business concept to see it become successful for her.

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Have you ever considered quitting?

Neither had I. But since hearing Seth Godin speak about his book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches you When to Quit (and When to Stick), last year it’s constantly been on my mind.

In The Dip, Seth suggests that all successful people know one thing before they become successful - they know when to quit. They know when to recognize when what they’re doing isn’t going to generate success. So what do successful people do? They quit. They quit doing what’s not leading them toward success so they can put their efforts into things that can lead to success.

As with Seth’s usual approach, he uses The Dip to talk about how to become the best in the world. This seems to be his new way of saying do something remarkable. But the core message is the same - be great to those who think you’re great. In other words - find your niche and become known as being great to those who you interact and work with.

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What is success?

It’s always interesting to compare the words success with it’s perceived opposite - failure:

Success: the accomplishment of an aim or purpose

Failure: lack of success

source: New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition

Those definitions make sense, right? Failure is the opposite of success - would you not agree? But is it always true?

If you think of success as a destination - a place to arrive too - I can see that not arriving at that destination could be thought of as a failure. Yet framing success and failure this way leaves no room for growing and learning. And it leaves even less room for trusting the process.

So how can we learn and grow if we don’t try things; have experiences? I’m not so sure we really can. I mean, I can read books, watch videos and attend seminars and playing tennis. I could become a virtual encyclopedia of playing tennis. But all that knowledge means very little when I hit my first forehand out of the playing area.

You see, I’m a huge proponent of the process. The process is all those steps you take when you move from idea to action. It’s the experience of putting what you know - and don’t know - into play and seeing what happens. It’s the place where real growth happens.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.” I couldn’t agree more.

Yet, somehow, in our modern life, we’ve seem to be overridden with ideas of perfection and doing it right (or not doing it wrong). We can’t fail. And we look poorly at people who do. We don’t see someone gaining valuable experiences toward success. Rather we see someone who failed. Heck, we don’t even acknowledge the bold and scary move of putting your ideas into action. Instead, we cower behind our false sense of safety; looking out to sea from the comfort of our park bench.

For me, success is about being in the game. It’s about not giving up. It’s about continuing to move toward the next step in the process - even if that next step is in a completely different direction.

About failure, Ben Franklin Thomas Edison said, “I haven’t failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”

About success, Booker T. Washington said, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as the obstacles which he has overcome.”

And about the process, Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

What do you say? What does success - and failure - mean to you?

Liz Strauss asked me, Dawud, “When I go to your blog I get the feeling there’s a back room behind your blog where you work. What work do you do there?”

And so kicked off our one2one conversation.

So what am I doing behind my blog?

When I’m not rubbing the swollen feet of my pregnant wife, chasing around my two young kids, or working on our kitchen remodel, I can usually be found parked behind my Mac Pro plugging away at work.

The work…of course, I design websites - for about a decade now. But more often I coach my clients to use their websites to grow their businesses. So you could say I’m a web designer - plus.

What I do is bring together knowledge of the internet, web coding, design and usability with the skills of a business coach, marketing strategist and just, plain overall problem solver. Basically, if you’d like to solve your business problems through the internet or take the next leap in your already successful business, I’m your guy.

The past year or so, I’ve been spending more and more time coaching and consulting with people on how to use social media (blogging, social networking, social bookmarking, etc) to expand their reach, grow the conversation and build a community around their business.

Liz, as you already know, I’m all about helping people. That’s truly what makes my heart sing. Thus, the way I see my business is that I help people uncover, develop and grow their dreams. Everyday that’s what I do with every client - step-by-step.

The truth is - I really love people. And I get such joy out of seeing people who are struggling begin to touch peace, happiness, beauty and love. Yes, I’m a sap too. But it’s literally what moves my being. For a while I helped people through alternative healing. Now, I guide my clients to similar outcomes through their business.

I could go on and on because I really love what I do. But I won’t. Why? Because I’d like to leave some space to hear from you…what do you do in the back room behind your blog?

And since this is a one2one conversation…to Liz (and you too…):

What’s one, core thing that makes your heart sing? Could be anything. But something that really blows your heart wide open.

If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your answer too.