I’m teaching my little guy to play poker at the moment, and over the next few days I’m going to be sharing some business and life lessons that I’ve learned from playing the game.
(Poker and golf are two things that hold a ton of lessons for entrepreneurs)
Lesson #1:
Don’t be pot committed in business!
According to the Interwebs:
“A player is pot committed if he has already invested so many chips in the pot that he can no longer fold if he is raised all-in”
Basically it means that you’ve already bet so many chips that you feel like you have to stay in the hand and keep betting – even if your hand sucks.
As I told my son, you don’t want to get so attached to a pot that you feel like you have to keep betting on it, even if your hand isn’t great.
That’s a good way to go bust.
If you don’t like your chances, fold your hand and live to fight another day.
Don’t get so attached to an outcome that you stay in a pot when you should have gotten out.
Here’s how it translates to business:
It’s easy to get tied to a losing strategy because you’ve already invested time and money into that strategy.
Many entrepreneurs say: “I should stop doing this, but I’ve already spent thousands on it” or “But I spent months getting this up and running – I can’t quit now!”.
We’re constantly being told that we shouldn’t quit …
We see the images with the little kitten on the branch, encouraging us to just “Hang In There”. It’s become a bad thing to give up on something.
Quitting can be a good thing.
I’ve quit several times in my life, most notably when I got out of real estate. I eventually started a coaching business (which I’m much happier doing) and that wouldn’t have happened if I stuck with real estate.
You wouldn’t be reading this had I not quit.
If you aren’t feeling your hand, fold it and save your chips for the next one.
Business is a marathon, and if you play your cards smart you’ll have a lot of hands to go all-in on and win the big pot.
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Subscribers are telling me that they’re marking it up with highlighters and pens, and going through it several times a month to make sure they implement everything that I’m teaching them to get more coaching clients and customers.
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