Hot Ideas & Hot Air

I just got back from Las Vegas, watching thousands of people risk thousands of dollars to play for fame and fortune at the World Series of Poker. There’s a reason so many successful poker players are also successful entrepreneurs. The skills overlap. Here are some lessons from the poker felt that can be applied to running a small business.

1. You have to pay to play. You can’t win by standing on the sidelines. Life rewards action. You need to put in your time, money and energy to learn the game and how to win.

2. Your bankroll determines the level of game you can play in. Remember all those dot-com disasters who went broke by spending their entire bankroll advertising during the SuperBowl? They forgot one thing – you need money to get into the next game. You have to have the bankroll to sustain your efforts. Once you have mastered a level of play then – and only then – is it advisable to expand to different games or higher limits.

3. Play your best game. Each game has subtle differences that favor specific skill sets. No limit hold -em is extremely popular at the moment, but not everyone has the nerves of steel the game requires. Don’t follow the herd. Find the “game” that suits your uniqueness.

4. Surround yourself with successful people. Successful poker players hang out with other successful poker players. Whiners, wannabes and railbirds are not invited into the conversation. By hanging out with the best and the brightest in your field, you accelerate your learning curve significantly. Listen as much as you talk and you’ll hear strategy and insight that round out your game.

5. Maintain your focus. Las Vegas has a TON of distractions! Professional poker players constantly have the lure of bad habits readily available to them. But so do business owners! When you stay focused on your priorities every day, it’s easier not to get lured to the “dark side” of busy-ness (or worse) instead of the real work that’s involved with building a business.

And one last thing – all players aren’t the same. Some are “grinders” and some are “aggressors.” Jack Canfield says that the average millionaire goes broke 2 ½ times before reaching success. Poker is like that too. There are “grinders” who pay their mortgage every month playing poker, and there are “go big or go home” aggressive players who ride the roller coaster between rags and riches throughout their lifetime. Which one are you? Anyone else a poker player? What similarities do you see between poker and business life?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 10:39 am and is filed under Entrepreneur Excellence, Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.