CEO Of Yourself, Inc.

No matter what you are doing, you are the CEO of Yourself, Inc. The decisions you make—and the actions you take—determine the success of the enterprise of "Yourself, Inc."

“Broadway Joe” Namath, the great N.Y. Jets quarterback, said, “If you aren't going all the way, why go at all?”

Alex Rodriguez, Tiger Woods, Joe Namath, and Fran Tarkenton are all successful people from the athletic world. Athletes can teach entrepreneurs much about how to pursue and achieve goals. Actors, writers, artists, craftspeople, musicians—in fact, everyone pursuing a career or running a business—can learn important principles from the way these people run their lives.

Athletes are the subject of this study for several reasons:

1) Most people have heard of them for some famous or infamous action.

2) Though born with some skills, they all must continuously strive for improvement.

3) If they begin to fall behind, their earning potential begins to decrease astronomically.

4) They make obnoxious amounts of money, but usually for just awhile in their early years.

5) The smart ones quickly begin to realize the reality of a short career and look ahead for the times after sports.

A study of these athletes reveals factors determining their entire person, not just their sporting ability. A well-rounded life involves every facet of living. You don’t just go to your office or play baseball every minute of your life. There are several things that we can learn from those athletes who achieved success both on and off the playing field. Further, reading more about these individuals may give you ideas about the planning and focus required to be CEO of "Yourself, Inc."

1) To maintain peak performance, physical health is important.

It’s true that everyone must put in the time required to succeed. Athletes are expected to be in excellent physical condition; but so should everyone else. Perhaps a different regimen will work for those not quite so active, but health affects the success of every "Yourself, Inc.," CEO.

2) Planning for the future—and for unexpected contingencies—will protect assets.

Although a lot of money is available to athletes during a period of a few years, the best of them plan for the years after sports. They require investment income or money from a different career to sustain the lifestyle to which they become accustomed.

3) Family life must be treasured and nurtured, even at the busiest times of your career.

Satisfactory private relationships must exist, too. A poor family life affects everything you do and may easily lead to poor actions and failure.

4) An attitude of thankfulness and generosity lead to a more satisfying life.

Many athletes realize they received support from their communities. Charitable contributions are a legacy left by many of these people. It’s their way of giving back to those who helped them start and to those loyal fans who have sustained the athletes' careers.

5) Look and act successful to inspire confidence in others.

The late Bear Bryant, legendary University of Alabama football coach, called Joe Namath the greatest athlete he ever coached. Nevertheless, Namath was benched for breaking curfew and did not play the last regular game in his junior year nor in the Sugar Bowl. This was near the beginning of his high profile rebellious career. He was always his own man and knew exactly what he wanted, even when he made statements that today would be considered politically incorrect.

He loved his glamorous bachelor image and continuously made brash (some would say ridiculous) remarks. At the Miami Touchdown Club dinner three days before Super Bowl III, Namath guaranteed the Jets would win the game. The Jets were in the upstart American Football League, and no AFL team had ever won a Super Bowl.

Namath and company made good on the boast.

The big-money, glitzy image “Broadway Joe” injected into professional football caused a salary bidding war between the established NFL and the upstart AFL. Eventually they merged into the present NFL.

Joe was displaying talents other than his passing arm. The Jets’ owner recognized this when he said Joe had the “presence of a star.”

Like “Broadway Joe,” entrepreneurs must use all their abilities to project themselves to their target audience whatever it may be. A lot of your success may be the result of your people skills over and above your required business acumen.

6) Never cease to develop every asset you have.

Fran Tarkenton used all his assets to build a successful career as quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings and N.Y. Giants and again for the Vikings, where he retired in 1978. At the time, he held almost every quarterback record, though many have now been surpassed.

He led the Vikings to three Super Bowls but never won. That’s surprising, because he had an aura of winning in impossible situations. His nickname was “scrambler” because he led the defense on many a wild chase often far behind the scrimmage line. He refused to be sacked.

7) Act boldly when action is required.

Fran Tarkenton has always been an innovator able to see successful situations where none exist. He also acts aggressively when he believes he can help. Two examples from college days at the University of Georgia under the great Wally Butts show his focus and determination to accomplish the task at hand.

Coach Butts decided to redshirt Tarkenton during his sophomore year much to Fran’s chagrin. Texas pinned Georgia on their own five yard line. Fran decided it was time to act. Without consulting his coach he put himself in as quarterback. Several plays later he threw a touchdown pass making the score 7-6. The kicking team was sent onto the field; Tarkenton waved them off and threw a two-point conversion putting Georgia ahead 8-7.

A better known example occurred in 1959 with the SEC championship on the line and Georgia trailing Auburn 13-7. With 30 seconds left, the coach sent a play onto the field. Tarkenton looked at the defense and got down on the ground to outline instead his own play that he felt would work. It did and Georgia won the conference title.

8) Team Building is as essential as individual effort.

Many home-based entrepreneurs work with teams, even if there are no employees except the owner. Internet affiliate programs and network-marketing businesses all involve the team concept. Customer service may also be a team venture because some third-party provider is often involved, particularly if there is a service misunderstanding.

Fran addresses team issues in his May 2003 newsletter from GoSmallBiz.com. He stresses that team members have a common purpose and know how each step on the way to success happened. It’s not just the final score, it’s the individual plays that get you in scoring position.

9) Always be on the lookout for opportunities.

Since the NFL, Fran Tarkenton has started a dozen businesses including GoSmallBiz.com www.gosmallbiz.com/. He has been involved in hundreds of other businesses, including a substantial interest in Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.

His message to us is to look for the opportunities and go for them regardless of what others may think.

10) Pay attention to every detail.

In the GoSmallBiz newsletter cited above, Tarkenton quotes Bear Bryant, Alabama’s great coach, as saying “to win the game, they have to get all the itty-bitty, teeny-weeny things right.” There are many small business applications for this principle, but one of the most important—and least utilized—is to test and track all advertising campaigns. Attention to this detail can save thousands of dollars by avoiding ineffective advertising.

Two current young stars—Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriguez—have great new lessons for all entrepreneurs. Both of these athletes are acutely aware that they run their own personal businesses.

At age 28, Tiger Woods is the youngest player ever to win a career Grand Slam of major tournaments. He was first to win all four major professional tournaments in a row.

Tiger early established a disciplined work ethic and training regimen. He constantly practices every aspect of his game, even if it appears he is performing very well. People estimate he hits over 800 balls at every practice session.

Earl Woods, Tiger’s Green Beret father, said he never had to encourage his son to practice; he did it on his own. What he did do was introduce young Tiger to simple swings, putting, and chipping. When the basics were mastered, Tiger was introduced to the full swing which now powers his drives ahead of most others.

Earl Woods has written several excellent books on early training of young golfers; much of what he says applies to any athlete. You can find Earl’s books at www.Amazon.com.

Tiger Woods nurtures his body, too. The results of his physical training have encouraged several other professional golfers to change their diet, begin exercise routines, and stop smoking. In the old days, Sam Snead said many players partied all night and played the next day hung over. Those days are over; there’s too much personal prestige and money at stake.

A major component of Tiger’s success is his strong mental discipline. He is able to change focus constantly during a match so that each current part of his game is the sole subject of his attention. This focus shows in his performance. Application of these principles to some business actions is discussed by Bill Cole, CEO of Procoach Systems, on his Website.

The ideas expressed in the Alexander Technique are also part of Tiger’s mental regimen. He reviews videos of old tournaments to find clues about how to play a hole better or improve some part of his game. You can read more about this here: learningfromtiger.netfirms.com/.

Most of the younger current athletes make so much money they not only need to support charities for tax reasons but most realize they want to repay those around them for past help. So they establish foundations.

Tiger’s foundation (www.tigerwoodsfoundation.org) tries to encourage kids to do their best, play in a fair way, and embrace the principles of honesty, integrity, and discipline. He wants children to be responsible for their actions. The organization awards grants for worthy projects promoting these goals.

Finally we come to the man who was the original inspiration for this article, A-Rod himself, Alex Rodriguez.

Imagine being 28 years old with your own business bringing in over $25 million this year and a guarantee of at least that much for the next 10 years—and you only actually work at the job for about nine months.

That’s the company called A-Rod.

Alex Rodriguez has been planning his business since childhood. He realizes he is CEO of the business called "Yourself, Inc." A teammate characterized him as one who not only could hit a ball hard enough to kill someone, but he could also make startling plays defensively that demoralize opponents.

Like Tiger Woods, this young superstar pays attention to the mental aspects of his game. In an article for Fast Company magazine, Alan Schwarz says that Rodriguez’s role model isn’t a great professional baseball player but Leonardo da Vinci. A-Rod admires da Vinci because he was master of many things, just like A-Rod wants to be master of everything affecting his business.

Part of A-Rod’s mental conditioning involves watching videos of past games and trying to see how to improve or how to correct anything wrong (not much of this with A-Rod). He takes college courses during the off-season and constantly reads self-improvement literature.

Do you begin to see how home-based business entrepreneurs can learn from the actions of star athletes?

Being a short stop requires superior athletic ability. A-Rod pays strict attention to this part of his business as well. He maintains a strict workout and diet program all year, especially in the off-season. This is important, he says, because the season schedule makes it difficult to do more than barely maintain whatever conditioning you achieved when not playing every day.

To read about A-Rod’s training and nutrition go here: www.musculardevelopment.com/may99/rodriguez.html.

Like other megabuck athletes, A-Rod believes in supporting charities. Among other things he founded is Grand Slam for Kids, encouraging them to work harder in areas like citizenship, reading, fitness, and math. He is also a significant contributor to the University of Miami (Florida).

This year A-Rod worked out a program with Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft to help young people nationwide. HP will donate a state-of-the-art computers and Microsoft will provide over $1,000 in software to local Boys & Girls Clubs each time Rodriguez scores an RBI.

So what else do these superstars teach us about running "Yourself, Inc."?

“Broadway Joe” tells you to project your presence into every situation and make things happen. Be your own person.

Fran, the Scrambler, emphasizes doing what you believe is right no matter others' opinions. He also advocates trying more than one thing and building your team.

The Tiger strives for excellence even when he already excels. He uses mental discipline and conditions himself to constantly focus on changing situations to obtain the best possible results.

A-Rod joins Tiger Woods in mental and physical preparation. He believes in well-rounded continuing education and self-improvement.