A well-known drug cartel has shown us the keys to success in business. If we forget for a moment that drug trafficking is an illegal business, it works just like any other kind of business:
- Both have a product.
- They have customers.
- They have competition.
- Business plans.
- Strategies.
- Market expansion.
There is only one difference: one is an illegal business and the other has to play within the law. What is clear is that if we applied the knowledge, thinking and strategies that drug cartels use to a legal business or company, we would have a set of guidelines for success.
The other day I saw a drug cartel setting out its thinking and the strategies to follow if you wanted to succeed in that business.
But I noticed that these were wise words for any entrepreneur who decides to succeed in business. Forget for a moment that the product is drugs and apply them to your character as an entrepreneur:
- If you want to lead a mediocre life, stay on the path God put you on. If you want to succeed, take risks.
- Success is never guaranteed, but you can’t succeed if you don’t try.
- Success doesn’t come overnight, but you can lose it from one day to the next.
- Success depends on the quality of the people you surround yourself with in business.
- Success comes from doing things well for as long as you do them.
- Never ignore opportunities and business ideas.
- Opportunities are liabilities, not assets.
- The most important liability in any company is thinking.
- Don’t ignore your problems. Face them and make them go away.
- Follow your passion.
- As soon as you realize you’ve started down the wrong strategy, it doesn’t matter how much you’ve invested. Don’t carry on.
- When you have the right strategy, execute it.
- And most importantly: always have secondary strategies and backup plans in case your strategies fail.
As we can see, the thinking of a drug cartel isn’t very different from Donald Trump’s guidelines or Steve Jobs’s early days.
The only things that change are the product and the ambition. In the drug trade, ambition can land you in prison; in business, ambition can make you a highly successful entrepreneur.
Further reading
- Common mistakes Hispanic business owners make
- Why new businesses fail
- Differences between Hispanic and American business owners
- Tips for running your company
Featured image: Wilfredor, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
