Nathan Hangen

Be the Best at What You Do

Catapulting to the Top

I was thinking the other day about how TMZ came out of nowhere and became the dominant presence in the celebrity gossip niche virtually overnight. They broke the MJ story, got the LeBron video, and have been on top of every other news outlet in the world. They’ve done it in a highly competitive industry, thanks largely in part to their CEO’s vision and willingness to do what it takes to get the story before anyone else does.

Looking at some of the other dominant faces in the business world, such as Apple (iPhone/iPod), Google (search), Cervelo (triathlon bikes), Nike (shoes/apparrell), etc…you’ll see that there is a common trend between most of these companies. Sure, marketing has a lot to do with it, but the key is knowing the importance of having a good product to market. All of these companies, at least during their most successful years, became popular because they are or were the best at what they do..

Becoming a Legend

People are trying to duplicate the iPhone, but they can’t. No one can touch Google…haven’t been able to for years. Cervelo is the most popular triathlon bike manufacturer in the world, and Nike became a legend thanks to the way they revolutionized the sporting goods industry.

What I’m trying to say here is that if you start a business, you need to excel in one specific area and become the best at what you do. If you sell widgets, you need to make the best damn widget in that niche. If it isn’t the best, then you’d better have a proprietary feature that kicks ass.

How to Become #1

If you aren’t the best, then you will be competing with every other company for that 2nd slot, which in my opinion, is much harder to achieve than the first. After a while, everyone gives up trying to be #1, but there are lots of companies that won’t settle for less than #2.

TMZ became the best by focusing on being the first to break major stories. Now that they’ve been able to do it more than once, they’ve taken the #1 spot and are unlikely to give it up any time soon.

The same goes for many of the other companies on this list, including many that aren’t. Once they surged to that #1 spot, they not only kept it for years, but put many other companies out of business.

Quite simply, if you want to create a successful business, you have to be the best at what you do. You can scrape by if you like, but the one and only true way to go big time is to put out the best product in the marketplace. Do that and then market it well…you will find that #1 is not only within reach, but very likely to be yours.

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