Apply Bruce Lee’s Water Philosophy to Your Online Business
Bruce Lee, one of the greatest – if not greatest martial artists of all time said this:
Empty your mind…Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle, you put water into a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash, be water my friend…While Bruce’s words were focused around awareness, life and martial arts, I can’t help but see how these amazing words can hold value for marketers, especially for those of us who work online and build businesses.
Think about applying his words to your online business. When building businesses online, we all face the certain changes that come and go like the ocean tides. We have all seen it before. Google slaps, Facebook edge scores, article marketing power strip, video marketing, social media platforms, mobile marketing, etc. You get my point. All of these things will forever be changing.
BE WATER MY FRIENDS…
Bruce said, “When you put water into a cup it becomes the cup.” The water is shapeless until it is shaped by the vessel which holds it. Think about when you started your online business or place into your mind your next “great” business idea. At the beginning, your business is an idea. It becomes real when you form your company or purchase your domain name or when you run traffic. Everyone’s definition is different, but really it’s all the same.
BE WATER MY FRIENDS…
Think of your business as water. It is shapeless until you begin putting your business/idea into WORDS that people can read, LANDING PAGES and LEAD FORMS that people can take action on, a VIDEO that people can watch, etc. Your online business then holds shape. Water in a cup, bottle, or teapot – one thing that remains constant is that in every scenario, the water is changing its shape as defined by its vessel.
BE WATER MY FRIENDS…
Bruce continues, “Now water can flow or it can crash, be water my friend.” This statement is very profound. Read it several times, and then several times more. I can’t think of a more powerful statement that applies to online business or even offline businesses for that matter.
Build long-term businesses with unique propositions and solid content = flawless cup
Build a blog that offers value = flawless bottle
Build a community around your products, services, and/or sites = flawless tea pot
Look for the fast money, rip other people’s ideas, and claw for crumbs = CRASH! You have nothing…
BE WATER MY FRIENDS…
An advocate for a free and open web and a serial entrepreneur, Preston has an in depth working history online with ecommerce, content creation and affiliate marketing. Most recently, Preston has had both the opportunity and pleasure to serve the Internet Marketing Grind Forums as a moderator.
