Skip to footer

When lightning strikes, proceed with caution

Most entrepreneurs dream of getting their big break, but make sure you're ready for it.

|
Curt Hudson/AP/File
In this file photo, a player puts a dollar coin in one of Resorts Atlantic City's dollar-coin slot machines in Atlantic City, N.J. Many business owners long to catch a lucky break. The trick is being prepared to capitalize on it, Dr. Cornwall argues.

Most entrepreneurs dream of that one big break.  For some businesses it is getting the one big customer.  For others it may be betting that magical "shout out" from a national thought leader or big time media outlet.

Should you always walk through the door of opportunity that the big break opens for you?  Sometimes yes, but sometimes no.
 
If the big break is what pushes your business forward to success.  Business on Main has a video about a chocolate maker who got national attention for one particular recipe for beer infused chocolates.  Orders went through the roof.  And fortunately she was able to put in the twenty hour days it took to make her big break lead to success in her business.

But some big breaks end up  becoming more nightmare than a dream come true.  It can lead to demand that far exceeds your ability to deliver in terms of quantity and quality.  Or it can fundamentally change your business in ways you never planned for.

One local coffee shop here it Nashville has had the opportunity to scale up in a big way through franchising.  But the owner knew that it would compromise the quirkiness that has been the key to the success of his coffee shops.  So he has said no to such proposals.

I have seen too many businesses actually ruined by what appeared to be the big break of their dreams.

Think hard to be certain that the break will allow you to scale the model and pursue the vision that you already had in mind.  Some breaks require a fundamental change, not just a pivot, of the business model.  If you pursue this type of opportunity make sure you do so with a clear understanding of what it means and how it will change your business.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to When lightning strikes, proceed with caution
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Entrepreneurial-Mind/2012/0301/When-lightning-strikes-proceed-with-caution
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe