VITAL BUSINESS LESSONS from the7HUNGERGAMES

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

Katniss Everdeen is in business—the business of staying alive

• Being a small business owner can feel like a life or death situation at times

• When sales are slow & clients are sparse, it can feel like you’ve been thrown in with the wolves with a flimsy marketing book as your only weapon for defense

• Who knows better about fighting your way back out of these types of sticky situations than our latest post-apocalyptic hero Katniss?

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

What can you learn from the Hunger Games?

A lot, actually. The following are 7 killer business lessons that you can discover

from the Girl on Fire…

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

Hunger Games Lesson #1: Team Up With Your Competitors

KATNISS• In the dog-eat-dog arena that

Katniss gets flung into, it would be understandable for her to go it alone

• Who can trust the competition when their sole intention is to see you lying dead in the water anyway?

• But what does she do? She teams up with the other competitors to stay alive

BIZ OWNER• As a business owner, it’s

tempting to think that for you to succeed, that your competition has to fail, but this is a false notion

• The most successful business owners work together--through joint ventures, symbiotic content promotion, affiliate programs, etc--to stay alive

Team Up

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

Hunger Games Lesson #2: Constantly Be Cultivating Useful Skills

KATNISS• When Katniss first learned

how to hunt with a bow and arrow, she didn’t foresee that this skill would keep her alive in the arena years later, but there’s no doubt it saved her life on multiple occasions

• No skill is too minor that it can’t pay off in a major way down the road

BIZ OWNER• If you wait to learn new

skills until the time you need them, it’s too late

• You need to be constantly cultivating useful skills on a daily basis

• Seek out opportunities to learn new things and make an effort to broaden your knowledge and capabilities

Useful Skills

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

Hunger Games Lesson #3: Get a Mentor

KATNISS• Chances are slim that Katniss

would have made it out of the first movie alive if she didn’t have a mentor

• Despite the fact that her mentor was a raging alcoholic (a quality that I wouldn’t recommend for a good mentor), the lessons and teachings that he imparted to her were invaluable

BIZ OWNER• You are too close to your

business to always see what needs to be done to ensure long-term success

• Getting an outside, impartial perspective about your business from a qualified mentor is extremely beneficial

• Mentors can help fast-track your business by saving you from mistakes and providing useful insight based on past experiences

Get a Mentor

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

Hunger Games Lesson #4: Know Your “Why”

KATNISS• Without a clear purpose, Katniss

wouldn’t have made it very far in the arena

• Katniss’s “why” wasn’t just staying alive, it was keeping her loved-ones safe—that’s her sole motivator from the get-go

• She originally volunteered for the Games to save her sister, she put her life on the line to help Peeta and Gale & she complied with the President’s wishes to protect her family

BIZ OWNER• You always have to know your

“why” in order to make it through tough times in your business

• Without a purpose, chances are you will quit before you reach the light (i.e. money) at the end of the tunnel

• Everyone’s “why” is going to be different, but it’s critical that you define yours.

• Why are YOU running your business?

Ask Why

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

Hunger Games Lesson #5: Learn As You Go

KATNISS• For Katniss, each time she is

thrown into the arena, she has no clue what to expect or what to do

• No amount of time spent strategizing or training in advance is going to help her negotiate all the curve balls thrown at her

• She learns everything as she goes along (and sometimes being naïve is one of her biggest assets because she can make decisions without second-guessing herself)

BIZ OWNER• You have to jump in and start

playing the game now if you want to end up victorious

• If you’re trying to learn everything you need to know before you start taking action, you’re wasting valuable time

• Take the plunge, be willing to make mistakes and learn as you go

Learn as you go

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

Hunger Games Lesson #6: Win Today

KATNISS• Katniss’s ability to live in the

moment is one of the major keys to her survival

• She doesn’t get caught up in worrying about the future—her primary goal in the arena is to stay alive today.

• In the end, when she focuses on the doing the best she can to survive each and every day, then the future will take care of itself

BIZ OWNER• Don’t spend time worrying what

slings and arrows the future might bring

• You can’t reach your long-term goals unless you successful execute your series of short-term goals starting now

• When you consistently focus on winning today—doing your best to accomplish what needs to be done in the next 24 hours—then the future will take care of itself

Win Today

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

Hunger Games Lesson #7: Play Your Game

KATNISS• The people of Panem love Katniss

because she’s the heroic rebel that doesn’t play by anyone else’s rules

• Even though she can’t escape her fate to participate in the Hunger Games, she intentionally ignores the Game’s guidelines while all the other tributes stick to the rulebook

• In turn, she beats the system, becomes a celebrity of sorts and most importantly, manages to stay alive

BIZ OWNER• You have to play your own game

and make your own rules in business

• If you follow the safe, worn path that everyone else has traveled down, there’s little hope that your business will stand out from the crowd and become a giant success

• If there’s something unique about yourself or your business, don’t hide it—highlight it

Play Your Game

by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

Connect with Laurel:Laurel Staples is a marketing expert, writer, and podcaster. She runs a popular blog & podcast called Go Fire Yourself that gives you the insider secrets to successfully escape your day job, grow your own

business and live life on your terms.

Connect with Laurel and download her free ebook: INCOME SWITCH: How to Replace Your 9-to-5 Income by Building a

Profitable (& Unstoppable) Online Platform by visiting her website:

www.gofireyourself.com

Read the full article:http://addicted2success.com/startups/7-vital-business-lessons-you-can-learn-from-the-hunger-games