Being a business owner is not just about selling a product or a service. It is far more than that. I often think it's all about psychology -- and I have a degree in psychology but I still don't get it all the time. You need to first and foremost, understand exactly WHAT it is you're selling. Then you have to know WHO you're selling it to, and what that market wants. Do you have what your target wants? Or are you going to spin your wheels trying to figure it out over and over? That's why I stress over and over that you MUST know the answers to these questions (and guess what...those answers change over time) in order to maintain a successful business venture.
But then, on top of that, there's an entirely separate level. Finances and costs (a cost may not be only money. It can be time, energy and so much more). Let me tell you a story about a story. I've told it before but it is good to remember it again today.
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Dorothy: Weren't you frightened?
Wizard of Oz: Frightened? Child, you're talking to a man who's laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe... I was petrified.
I love The Wizard of Oz. As a child I remember sitting in front of the tv with all my neighborhood friends, prepared to scare myself silly as the wicked witch goes flying by on her broom, laughing, "I'll get you and your little dog too." I have watched that movie well over 100 times and I'm always seeing something that I've not seen before. Did you know that in one scene the scarecrow has a gun? I've still not seen that. And all the trouble and problems that manifested themselves to the woman who played the wicked witch -- she got burned badly when her broom got lit on fire. Buddy Epson was supposed to play the tin man, but had such an awful reaction to the metal that he had to give up the part.
What does this have to do with business you ask? Well from the standpoint of MGM, this movie cost $2.8 million and only grossed (originally) $3 million. There were over 600 actors and 1000 costumes. And it wasn't until the movie hit TV that it became the classic it is today. Until then, Oz was not seen as profitable and was considered a big waste of time and money.
But there are other business linked lessons to be learned from The Wizard of Oz. At the time these books (yes, they were first written as stories to tell Frank Baum's children while he was on the road as a traveling salesman) were written, there was a wind of change politically and businesswise. The Populist movement was taking control, as well as the agrarian revolt of the 1890s. All this is seen in the dark and dreary start of the movie, filmed in black and white. The tornado hitting the homestead was a sign of the uproar happening politically in the area. Recently, scholars have debated this meaning of the book: since Baum died for many years, we may never know the true political meaning.
Another business related idea that has been hypothesized around Oz, is that of the yellow brick road. There was a great deal of controversy at the time regarding silver money as opposed to gold. It is reported that all the gold in the yellow brick road stood for the fact that silver would never replace gold as this country's base monetarily.
I look to Oz for smaller and more poignant business meanings -- for me and for those in business today. Dorothy comments “If we walk far enough, we shall sometime come to someplace.” And the scarecrow, while still on his pole, crosses his arms and tells Dorothy that if you don't know where you're going, anyplace will get you there. This is so true for businesses. When you choose NOT to have a plan, you actually are creating a plan of failure.
I love so many of the lines in the movie. “True courage is in facing danger when you are afraid...” The quote at the beginning, where the professor supposedly saw all the heads of foreign states, yet was petrified, tells us that even though we may face many fears, when we commit to our dreams we can accomplish much even though we were afraid. For many of us, we never make our businesses a success because we are afraid. Whether that fear is of failure, or success, or being laughed it, or not living up to expectation (the list goes on), we are content to ride it out in safety. We would have stayed in Munchkin land, never venturing off to the Emerald City, or to fight the Wicked Witch.
These are just a couple of lessons to be learned by The Wizard of Oz. Perhaps we should call it -- The Wizard of Business? I challenge you to watch the movie again, with new eyes, and see how you can put the story to use in growing your own patch of farmland.
So, until pigs can fly here in this world, believe that You and Your Business can and WILL soar higher when you step out of fear and move forward. I look forward to seeing you again as we both fly up to the next level!
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