The Hare and The Tortoise and Your Online Business

I wrote this article about 3 years ago. Till this day, I still get traffic from it. Check out the article here.

The Hare and The Tortoise and Your Online Business

Everyone’s heard the tale of the Hare and the Tortoise. Well let me tell you the extended version of this fairy tale and how it applies to running your online business.

After the Hare lost to the Tortoise he got mad. I mean really mad. He thought about why he lost and questioned himself. The answer was clear. He lost because he was too confident, too lazy and didn’t give it his 100%.

The Hare challenged the Tortoise to another race in which the latter agreed to. This time the Hare went flat out to win the race. He was totally out of breath when he finished. He turned back and saw that he beaten the Torture by a long way.

How does this relate to your online business? Even when you’re seen as a clear winner and the true favourite, never bank on it. Always strive to do the best. Give up, slip a little, and your “uncapable” competitor will amazingly catch up.

When you know you’re the clear leader and yet you still strive to perform the best you can, you will be miles ahead of everyone and it’s near impossible to compete against you.

With your online business, never give up marketing your website. Always find ways to advertise and improve your products. This is a never-ending learning game. Stay still and very quickly your income will gradually slip away.

But the story does not end here. The Tortoise was now thinking about his defeat. Even if he had given double the effort, he’d still be beaten hands down. He thought to himself for a long time and then came up with a strategic plan. He challenged the Hare again. He asked for another race but this time he will choose the path.

The Hare agreed. At the start the Hare sped off as usual, not forgetting his embarrassing lesson and was very far ahead. Until he came to a river. The Hare stopped and could see there was no way to reach the finishing line as he could not swim. He couldn’t take a different track as he had to go via the route the Tortoise planned.

The Tortoise finally got to the river and swam across. The Hare watched helplessly. Eventually the Tortoise crossed the finishing line.

What does this tell you? When you know you have no way of competing against your competitor, think of other ways where you can win. Don’t go and compete with the market leader head to head. Note what their weaknesses are and your own strengths and work out a unique selling proposition (USP). For example if your competitor is weak with their follow ups or some areas of their products, build on their weakness and advertise it as your strength. Find opportunities that work in your favor.

But the story does not end there. The Hare was thinking to himself about his latest defeat. He realized that no matter how hard he ran, he could never have crossed the river and win the race. The Hare wasn’t angry at the Tortoise though. In fact he respected the Tortoise and they started to talk. They finally agreed to have another race but this time, they would work together as a team.

The race began and this time the Hare carried the Tortoise on his back and ran as fast as he could until he came to the river. The Tortoise in turn carried the Hare on his back and swam across the river. On land, the Hare carried the Tortoise on his back and ran to the finishing line. They were exhausted but the race was the happiest they’ve ever experienced.

They worked together and the race was completed in the fastest amount of time which was not possible if they had not teamed up together. The achievement by the team was much more enjoyable and the result was much better than when it was done by an individual.

The meaning of this story relates a lot to a successful online business. No matter how good you are or how much money you’re making, you’re still working by yourself. If you team up with a competitor or other business owners and come out with a new product advertising it to both parties’ lists the result you have would be much better than going out on your own. This is called Joint Ventures and it is one of the most important techniques which internet marketers use to build their email lists and to sell more products.

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