When I stepped out into the world of free enterprise half a year ago, I did so upon years of careful and intense research in the field of new media.

Now, moving into the time period that most often makes or breaks a business, my experiences have led me to compare the functioning of a company to something else that I’m familiar with – riding motorcycles.

Nothing beats the high of ripping along on a sunny day.  The senses come alive a little more, you notice the sights, smells, and sounds with greater clarity.  Beneath you, the bike responds immediately to the slightest movement you will make.  But no matter how well you plan your trip, there is always the possibility of problems.  Weather changes, roads can become dangerous, other traffic can be erratic.  For this reason, no matter how much the rider is enjoying the ride, a part of his/her mind is ever conscious of potential problems, vigilantly scanning the horizon for, projecting escape routes.  The rider is in a constant state of adjustment.

The parallel lies in the fact that like riding speedbikes, no matter how carefully one plans their course in business, hoping for sunny skies and scenic paths, things can change in an instant and require immediate adjustment.  Failure to do so, even on something small, can have disastrous results, even leading to a fatal crash.  Woe betide the rider who hears an odd sound from his bike and does not stop to check it out!

There are times in business when one is mired in ‘slug work’ – reams of uninteresting, unchallenging tasks that would rob the businessman of his attention to detail.  Like drifting through fog, the danger is in missing a myriad small adjustments, then in one horrifying moment finding oneself someplace else than where one thought they were.  In an instant, the rider realizes that he has come to real danger – hopefully not too late.  His attention snaps to sharp focus, but will it be too late to compensate?

At other times, the sun shines brightly and focus is clear.  On a lovely day with a clear sky above and a clear road ahead, who could resist giving the bike a little freedom to roar?  A little flick on the throttle and the sensation of flight sets upon the rider.

But in this case, the danger is in taking too much, too fast.  Without control, the most ideal of conditions can not prevent the rider from his own mistakes.  Similarly, more than one business has fallen prey to bolting ahead too quickly during good times, only to find that the good times turn against them.  History has shown entire eras of time when it seemed business in general fell prey to the temptation to ‘hit the throttle’.

So what is the right attitude to display in business? 

No rider who does not respect his ride is well suited to sit on a bike.  He can be neither overly cautious, nor careless, for either condition will land him in trouble.  He can certainly not be addicted to speed.  He has the patience to do his pre-ride inspection, and the hours of tedious maintenance, perhaps even enjoying such.  At the same time, he has focus and does not hesitate to accelerate out of a bad situation or lean into a tight corner.

This same attitude is suitable in business.  It takes a certain kind of person to do all of the ‘maintenance work’ – things like scheduling, filing taxes, seeking funding, reporting and so forth.  At the same time, when an opportunity presents itself, or a business decision must be made, that person needs the fortitude to crouch down behind their visor and give the business some gas.

More than anything, the successful business person is perpetually making updates, changes, and course corrections.  Sweeping changes to route (storms ahead, lets take the longer way) are accompanied by myriads of almost unconscious updates every day.

It all seems like such a lot of work!  And truth to be told, it is a lot of work.  But in the end, the only question remaining is ‘is it worth it?’  For many, the answer is ‘no’.  A car, a bus, or good old shoe leather will get people where they want to go just as readily as any motorcycle.  For those who answer ‘yes’ to the question above, however, there is no other way to be.  For those ones, a single piece of advice should be remembered constantly; everyone crashes at some point.  When it happens (for it will happen) what will you have done to minimize the damage?  And will you have the fortitude to pick yourself up, repair the damage, and continue?  Will you love it enough to accept the responsibility for what you could have done differently, acknowledge what was beyond your control, and move forward?

If anyone still answers ‘yes’, then they surely must try their hand at business.  For that matter, perhaps they should try motorcycling!