My son started soccer last year and frankly, his early performances weren’t the best. Then something interesting emerged and today it’s a different story. I see many parallels with business.
When kids start playing soccer, few of the players know what it’s all about. Each child has a perception of their own skill and a vague picture of what the game is about. Generally the thinking is: kick the ball and run after it.
Business can be much the same and start-ups in particular begin with a fairly narrow view of what ‘the game’ involves.
In a business context, kicking and running can translate to core knowledge and delivery, in other words “I know what I know and how to deliver it”.
Oh, that business were that easy! We all know that in your own business, there are many more hats to wear than just the service delivery one.
Back to the soccer pitch. After a good few games and a bucketload of coaching and mentoring (if you can call screaming from the sidelines either of those!), things started to change and a gaggle of little chests became nicely puffed up.
As if by magic, tactics and strategies emerged. Passing to someone else! Getting into a position where you can be passed to. Tackling. Pausing for breath, and surprise of all surprises, working as a cohesive and effective team.
Nowadays watching my son play is simply brilliant and I’m often amazed there are still no television cameras there capturing the A-grade action.
At FSHQ we’ve been learning a new sport recently and yes, our soccer pitch is our new site. We began over a year ago and after auditioning a number of players, pulled together a team that has being playing brilliantly.
Like professional soccer though, it’s the audience and fans that keep the whole thing together and you lot are simply gobsmacking.
In less than a week, just under 2,000 of you have added a listing in our directory and we’ve been swamped with accolades and constructive feedback.
A handful of you have even taken the plunge and signed up for our premium membership listing and started to enjoy a whole raft of benefits.
If you’ve yet to have a kick around your new home, hop out of your seat and check it out.