Entrepreneurs Need to Stop Fighting for Scraps and Go for the Buffet
Hi there, Gang, long time, no post, I know. I was so inspired by this line that I had to write something about it. The title of the post comes from an email I got for Skyrocketing Your Sales, by Moira Ni Ghallachoir. She is from Ireland which, of course, makes her interviews that much more enjoyable and you can tell she’s having a great time interviewing these people. Here is the link to her summit, I highly recommend it So, what does this little bit of wisdom mean to me? Again, the line is:
Entrepreneurs need to stop fighting for scraps and go for the buffet.
First of all, I love buffets, the literal thing. I usually eat too much. Secondly, I think the most interesting word in this statement is the word Fighting. Fighting for scraps. That really made an impact on me. I just had this image of a couple of dogs in a dumpster fighting for a piece of meat or something. What I really think this means, though, is that entrepreneurs are way too independent and try to do too much by themselves. They fight for the little bit of webspace they need for their domain and say that they have the right way of doing things. Or they look at other people who are more successful and maybe fight for a scrap of that success. The other word I like, besides Fighting, is scraps. Scraps are pieces of a whole, right? They are things that are discarded from that whole and left to whoever can find them.
So entrepreneurs are just finding these bits of things and, presumably, trying to make a whole of them when they might not even fit into a whole. In other words, scraps are disparate, to begin with, so trying to fight for them and then conjoin them somehow is a fruitless endeavor. Fruitless, haha, get it? I couldn’t resist. So, if you think of a buffet, what does that mean for an entrepreneur? Yes, it means All You Can Eat, but it also means that you can pick different selections from the buffet each time you go back. Maybe one time I might go look at social media, and another time I might go look at web design. Those are just basic examples, but I really like the analogy. I find myself fighting for scraps far too often with both ideas in my head and ideas that others have. I get tons of emails on sales and speaking and coaching and book marketing and on, and on, and on. Those are scraps, but they could be turned into a buffet pretty easily if I organize them into whole dishes. Buffets also stress variety, so all these emails and scraps of advice I get are just a variety food that can be cobbled together and spread out. So, to recap, entrepreneurs fight for scraps.
Those scraps are meaningless unless they can form a coherent whole. That whole, then, could become a dish of ideas or practices or business strategies. Those dishes, then, could be laid out for someone to pick and choose. Lastly, it takes a number of people to stock a buffet. Entrepreneurs, instead of scrabbling with each other for bits and pieces, need to work together to keep those dishes filled. Yes, I realize I am taking this statement very literally in my interpretation. However, the metaphor is so apt for what I’m dealing with as an entrepreneur myself.
Those are just my thoughts on this analogy. You might have a different idea, share it in the comments, or contact me here with your thoughts. All for now, off to the buffet down the street.
Dave Bahr is the founder of In-Sightful living. He works as an advocate for persons with disabilities and a usability specialist. Schedule a Call with Dave here.