Winning is a polymathic endeavor in that, to win you need to excel at multiple areas. You need to be the better speaker, the better coder and/or the better salesman. Question is, how can you excel at multiple things simultaneously? I’ll try to illustrate my approach to this problem of personal development with some key examples.
Web Development Wins
When building Alsuper.com.do we had to create the best possible online catalog and provide low cost marketing targeting millions to position a new startup. Strategy, development, promotions, it was a cacth-22 situation. But, the way we solved it was first by strategizing a plan for each category and then by staging each phase. Strategizing your development and staging your efforts will focus your execution and increase your available resources for each project. Also, in order to be at equal footing with establish brands, try to promote your platform in new social media services such as Snap Chat or even Yik Yak. Theres not a lot of competition there, yet. Alsuper is now the #1 eCommerce property of the Caribbean and delivers thousands of products each day.
Winning at Miss Universe D.R. was a completely different game. We sponsored the event for the Dominican franchise, built the website and the yearly magazine and, in order to do so, had to collaborate with over two dozen executives, creatives and managers. A very tall order indeed. The key is that winning in partnerships is all about being available. Yes, so maybe the meeting is at 3AM. So what? Maybe the photoshoot is at 4AM. So what? It doesn’t really matter. What matters is planning ahead and being available. And the key to your availability is being empathetic to the needs of your partner. We also had the best proposal for the national franchise site, but thats another blog post.
Winning at ONAPI was hard. The eGovernment project for the National Agency of Patents was a very complex endeavor involving the best 30 or so professionals of their respective fields and supported by almost 200 government principals. To win here we had to adhere to an insane number of governmental standards and demands as well as complicated timelines and a seemingly never ending list of requests for integrations. How do you win in this case? You follow. You follow the maze and decipher the right paths to success from established executives and providers. A counterintuitive move, for sure, but one that is sane and humble. Because sometimes you have to follow in order to become a leader. This follower-ship can yield increased dividends when is time to step up to the plate. And we did, ONAPI won the Iberoamerican medal for best governmental institution, and a big part of the prize was its full service G2B web presence. The agency also won the Presidential Medal of Quality, but that’s another blog post. What’s important here is that sometimes you have to wait, learn and grow before executing.
Discipline and Recent Wins
Jordhy.com recently surpassed 500 visits per hour and 14 million Twitter mentions, *IP has started its American solution portfolio and we recently revealed a seven figures Hispanic domain name portfolio. Well, the key to such growth is discipline and consistency. Both in individual and team growth. Taking on every project as your best project, pushing as hard as you can every time and persuading great people to join you in those efforts is the key to winning again and again.
Quick Tips to Win
- Be bold
- Be fast
- Read every day
- Make your team read every day
- Automate everything that needs to be automated
- Create a community that supports you
- Let the people around you know how much you care about your projects
- Be honest
- Be clear
- Be concise
- Fail and get back on track as fast as you can
- Exercise everyday
- Get inspired by great artists
- Live in a creative place
- Travel as much as you can afford
- Write as much as you can
- Integrate new technologies on an ongoing basis
- Compare your stuff with that of the best performers
- Strategize your actions
- And keep coming back