Swing Easy and Focus

Great advice for any golfer is to swing easy. The harder you try to swing the worse your shots become. The easier you swing, the longer the ball seems to go. It seems like a contradiction, but it is true. The same holds for finding a business idea. Swing easy.
Don’t go for “the next Microsoft” or for a quick “home-run” idea. Find a need, find a niche, and keep it simple.
I have offered many examples and ideas that fit this advice and USA Today has yet another example this week — Brian Scudamore who founded 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is a great story of a drop-out who was not afraid fill a need in a less than glamorous business.
“As an 18-year-old, Scudamore was having a difficult time finding a summer job. While at a McDonald’s drive-through in 1989, he noticed a beat-up truck of a local hauling company.
“‘I said, ‘That’s it!’ ‘ he recalls. ‘I ate my cheeseburger and, within a week, had a business.’
“He bought a truck for $700, placed a newspaper ad that said, ‘The Rubbish Boys will stash your trash in a flash,’ and charged $80 per truckload.”
He grew the business with what he had to work with. His advice to entrepreneurs is to “start your business with your own money.”
Another tip for the average golfer is to keep your head down and your eye on the ball. In a word — focus.
Scudamore created a simple business with a clear plan. He never strayed from his original idea. It worked well so he grew it and continued to make the basic idea a little better. His warning to entrepreneurs is, “Don’t ever try to build a business without a crystal-clear vision.”
A simple idea with a clear vision that he has turned into a franchised business with over 1,000 employees and $72 million in revenues.
Swing easy. Focus.