It's nearly football season time again. The time when every football fan in the country experiences a massive high of expectations in that last 10mins before kickoff. A feeling only a relative handful will continue to feel for the remaining 9 months of the season.
For those of you who are not followers of our national sport you will be quite justified in dismissing the upcoming months as yet another year of pointless running around with a pigs bladder. But there is no getting away from the fact that football as a sport, way of life and increasingly a business, is a key strand of our local and national pysche.
Take Burnley, many non-football fans in the town (of which there are very few) will point to the glorious industrial past, ringing singing tree and the beautiful pennines as major selling points. But few will be able to argue that the town has been put back on the map of England in a major way by the promotion and season in the Premiership that filled the past year. Even those businesses that didn't benefit directly from the increase in the football club's spending in the local economy will have seen the benefit that having a team in the Premier League with the eyes of the world focused upon it brings.
It is certainly a benefit that Blackpool will feel this coming season as they emulate Burnley by taking their turn in the 'big league'. Without doubt it is an opportunity that must be taken, as an Oldham fan I can vouch for that. Our town saw our Premier League opportunity come too early (before the big money really arrived) and despite 3 seasons in the top division our team now prepares to embark on it's 13th consecutive season in League One (or division 3 in old money). As a club and a town Oldham didn't take the opportunity to maximise the chance they had, and that is really where a business lesson lies...maximising opportunities however big or small they may be.
Luck plays a part with all opportunities, and rather than declaring that luck has nothing to do with business I like to look on it another way. Luck or LUCK really is all about maximising opportunities and how do you do that? Well through LUCK:
L - Location, getting yourself out there and speaking to as many people as possible, mentioning your aims, your goals and your challenges and where you're looking for help. Be on the field.
U - Understanding, know your chosen field as well as you can, who are the players, where are the opportunities
C - Contacts, speak to people, network (both in real-life and on social networking sites), draw up a list of the people you would really like to speak to and mention them to everyone you know...you've played the Kevin Bacon game right??
K - Knowledge, know your subject, be an expert, you don't need to be working in an industry for years to know about it, do your research.
Or to bring it back to football, Rooney worked hard on his skills and that enabled him to score 36 goals in total last season. But he also used a big slice of LUCK...he knew where he would score most goals and got himself there. He worked in training on where the opportunities best arrived for him. He had some excellent teammates, and he knew exactly how he needed to strike the ball each and everytime in order to take advantage of the opportunities that came his way. (World Cup aside of course!!!).
So increase your chances of scoring by using your own slice of luck, and take a leaf from Burnley and maximise the opportunities when they arrive. And any time you get that feeling of complete optimisim in the 10 mins before kick off hold on to it...it will get you through those cold winter Tuesday nights at home to Gillingham.
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