Are you training for Business?

I consider myself very lucky to live close to a world-class ski mountain. This allowed me to go and spend time this past weekend watching the North American (Nor-Am) Cross Country Ski Trials to secure the last few places available for the USA and Canadian teams at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

My daughter races in the Juvenile category, and has been cross country ski racing since she was eight, so I know first hand the dedication that it takes to be a world class skier. (My job is being the parental taxi service to and from training sessions and races across Western Canada as well as a ski waxer.)

Cross-country skiers train all year round. They spend anywhere from 4-6 hours a day working on core strength exercises as well as endurance training. During the summer months, dry-land training takes place via such activities as swimming, running, biking and roller-skiing. They work with a coach and often have sports psychology coaching too. Healthy diets are a must as well as dinking plenty of water. Everything is logged and detailed in training diaries for reference at any point in the future. They are serious about finding resources and spending the time necessary to get to their goal. In addition, most amateur athletes have jobs…

The hardest thing to do as a business owner is to dedicate time to your business strategies, to take that time out from dealing with the day to day #$%^%  (feel free to insert your own word here) and actually concern ourselves with training for our own business.

Do you set aside everyday a couple of hours to concentrate on where your business is for core strength? Do you know what is the foundation of your business that keeps it strong? Do you have a Mission and Vision Statement that you can refer to over and over again to see if you are still on track or if you need refinement?

Do you train for business when it’s not snowing? I.e. when the ‘conditions’ are not suited for your business. Have you found a way to diversify your clientele or business practices to help the company when times are a little slower or dry of leads?

Have you brought in a business coach lately, someone to come in and look at your business from a different angle to help you help your business? Never be afraid to ask for help. Perhaps even ask friends for a brainstorming session about ideas that you may have.

Are you feeding your business the right food? Do you take the time to research for the latest and greatest ‘supplements’ of information online regarding what is happening in your industry? Do you know who provides some of the best source of materials regarding financing or marketing for your company?

Are you keeping track of it all? Are you able to look back at a log and see what you did correct and what went wrong?

It’s easy for me to sit here and write the above list of questions to ask you. I coach sports and I coach businesses. They are often very similar and sometimes as businesses owners we should consider the strategies to be the same.

The above list is also nothing amazing, and nothing that you have not heard before.  But are you dedicated to doing the daily grind of business training? Are you dedicated to finishing the race and becoming number one?

Amateur sports cutback

With a child in amateur sports this letter comes as a stab in the back with the upcoming Vancouver winter Olympics.

We are supporting sport short term, as we forget the long term!!

Details of location and sport have been removed form this post, but it is provincial and crosses many provincial amateur sports.

As you know. the amateur sport sector in BC has received significant funding cutbacks – particularly those funds derived from Gaming revenues (there was a $10 million reduction to sport in Gaming revenues alone), but also long-standing revenue sources such as the Canada Games Grant. There was no warning that change on this scale was being considered. Unfortunately these cutbacks have impacted both provincial and community sport organizations

This is how these changes will affect your program area:
a.. The Athlete Development Coordinator position has been discontinued, and essential tasks have been divided up among a number of people.
b.. The Provincial Camp  in November will be held as usual, but the camp fee has increased and we may or may not be able to provide the same level of support in some areas – for example, transportation.  Some responsibilities may fall back on parents.
c.. Athletes selected to the BC Team for the National Championships will receive the same trip coordination, coaching and  support as usual, but this year they will be responsible for the majority of the costs associated with their flight, accommodations, ground transportation, meals and entry fees. To put this in perspective, BC would normally provide $25,000-$30,000 to subsidize these expenses.

On a more positive note we are expecting next year’s provincial team program to be similar to what was offered in the past, although you should expect the cost to the club/athlete to be more than it was before.

We will make every effort to keep our athlete development programs on track through this difficult period.

What are you thoughts?

I know we have been asked a lot of times but have you added your point of view about your feelings on the Olympic games.
Please we would love to hear what comment you have.