19 Sep Happiness – you can learn from others
I found the following article in the Sydney Morning Herald online and although I stumbled across it in the business section I think there are some very relevant ideas for those of us seeking happiness. Do you think you have to find happiness all on you own? If so, you might not be taking the most sensible route…if you know someone else whose happiness you admire or find inspirational then maybe you can learn from them.
Although happiness will mean different things to different people there’s no reason why we might not be able to borrow some happiness ideas from others and then tailor them to suit our own lives…watcha think?
Learn from the best – and copy!
If you can see a business model that works successfully, ask yourself if there’s anything you can take away from it.
Similarly, if you like the way your mentor does business, it’s natural to emulate what they do. Often, we spend so much time in our own little bubble – busy with the never-ending demands of our small business – that we can forget to open our eyes to the wonderful ideas around us.
Or we spend time only researching innovations and trends in our own industry, when we could learn new approaches and ideas from the way other industries do things.
Picking overseas trends can also put you a step ahead of the market if you are nimble enough to implement what you learn.
There is no point in reinventing the wheel. Look at what Rhonda Byrne did with The Secret. The ideas in the movie and book are nothing new – they have been around for centuries. But Byrne took the best information and repackaged it for a market she understood – and what a huge market that’s turned out to be.
Why do you think there is Pop Idol, Australian Idol, Singapore Idol, American Idol? The list goes on. Because it works.
Have a look at the very successful Red Balloon Days in Australia. And then check out Red Letter Days in the UK. One entrepreneur was savvy enough to develop the idea. The other entrepreneur was savvy enough to recognise it was a great concept that could be translated to another country.
I used to learn a lot of theoretical business books. Now, I spend my time studying other companies. You can look at everything – from their organisational framework, market positioning and even what software they choose to use. I cherry-pick the ideas that suit my businesses. It saves me heaps of dry research time and has boosted my bottom line.
What ideas have you learned from other companies that you’ve implemented successfully in your own business?
Posted by Valerie Khoo
September 19, 2007 6:53 AM