on Cube21 – Means, Ends, Sun Tzu, Art of War & Business

Starting Cube 21 – Means to an End, was inspired by a two hour History Channel special on Sun Tzu’s Art of War and how the lessons play out in three modern battles: Vietnam, Battle of Normandy/D-Day & Gatiesburgh.

First you should start off listening to Cube 21:

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0021focus-on-the-end-goal.mp3]

[Download mp3 – 4:48] One-Click Subscriptions for StartingCube: Zune : iTunes : RSS

Now for my reactions:

[audio:http://media.ansp.com/ANT0002on-Cube21-Means-End-Sun-Tzu-Art-War-Biz.mp3]
[MP3 – 14:52]

Business vs War

Business is not War

Businessmen who think of business as war gives business a bad name.

Breaking vs Building
Primary goal of war is to impose your will on a group.
The primary goal of business is to build something, or provide value.

Sun Tzu really pushes the use of deception to win a war.

Deception in a business is a destructive strategy; and is too similar to fraud or oppressive methods for acquiring wealth, not acceptable or good ways of building your dream.

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

It’s important to enjoy the journey, but the journey is not the destination.

Not every moment of building your dream shall be enjoyable, but the overall journey should be.

You have to have both parts, if you lose sight of either:
– journey
– destination
you have lost

The destination might not always be clear to an outsider, that is not a big issue, the goals must be clear and remembered by you.

To help with both elements, keeping written records of what you are striving for and what you have accomplished (or progress) can help.

One Trick Providers

There is power in focus on the part of an individual, but as a group, if everyone brings the same viewpoint & skills, then some people are unneeded.

You have to find additional resources to achieve your goals.

Might be a coach or outside consultant, or it might be a new book, podcast, training course.

Be intentional with what you input into your mind & who you spend time with.

Need an Outside Perspective?

We provide coaching and consulting for individuals and organizations who are striving to solve a public problem with a private solution.

Another place is to post your thoughts in the comments of a Starting Cube episode.

solo freelancer vs. the owner of a business

Copyblogger has a great article titled Is There Life After Freelancing?

In it Shane Pearlman speaks of the differences he has experienced going from being a freelancer, or the silly term some use now of solopreneur , to being a business owner.

Basically going from trading time for money to building something larger than one person.

Here is a bit from the middle:

Taking freelancing to the next step of building a bigger business is a great goal, and a way cool business model, if you are the right person.

 

By the time we finish discussing what the end result looks like, you’ll either get more excited (like I did) or you might consider other paths to follow and grow your existing freelance business.

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The first step is one of figuring out where you think you want to end, begin with the end in mind, then start making plans & set sail. Not everyone should become a business owner, but we love working with those who are called to build something bigger than themselves.

Great job both Copyblogger & Shane.