On Rubiks Cubes, Business,

and Other Seemingly Impossible Puzzles

Posted by Will on Jul 27, 2011 in SalesPartners Miami

Last Friday, my printer was giving away all sorts of promotional gear, one piece of which was a customized Rubik’s Cube.  So, this weekend I set out to accomplish one of the personal goals I’ve had since childhood – I learned how to solve Erno Rubik’s Magic Cube.  (If you are a little jealous, it’s completely understandable.)

During the process, it occurred to me how much solving a Rubik’s Cube is like building a business.

·         The Rubik’s Cube has six sides, each with separate parts.  In a business, there are different systems, each with their multiple parts.

·         When the parts of of each side of the Rubik’s Cube are in alignment, it is a thing of beauty and an object of envy.  The same thing is true of a business that is running smoothly.

·         However, all of the sides of the Rubik’s Cube are interrelated.  You can’t move one piece without affecting the others.  Again, the same is true for a business.

This is the ridiculously frustrating thing about Rubik’s Cubes.  You cannot simply solve each side of the Cube one at a time.  You might complete one side, but from that moment on all the sides must be completed simultaneously – otherwise any progress you make on one side destroys the progress on another.

That sounds like the ridiculously frustrating thing about business, too.  You cannot just focus on one system at a time, or the others start to break down.

·         Are you going to just focus on sales?  Then what happens to quality of production?

·         Are you going to change marketing strategies?  How will that affect the sales process?

·         Making changes to your accounting system?  Will it be able to analyze the success of your marketing campaigns?

·         And let’s not forget the human element in all of these things.

Is it any wonder that over 90% of businesses fail in the first 5 years?

So how in the world is anyone supposed to solve a Rubik’s Cube, much less the puzzle of business?

Simple – get someone to teach you the process.

Years ago I searched for answers to solving the Rubik’s Cube and found that there were actually algorithms – well defined processes – to move the pieces around the cube and ultimately solve it.  I decided, however, it was not worth my time to sit and learn all the notation, and memorize all of the algorithms when I didn’t have something there showing me if I was getting it right.  I could have probably figured it out eventually, but was the reward worth the cost in time and other opportunity?

Obviously, this was before the YouTube era.  This time around a quick search landed me on the page of a college student somewhere that was more than happy to demonstrate the process step by step, and encourage me along the way.  After about two hours, I had it (the ensuing celebration was reminiscent of Tom Hanks in Castaway, when he finally got the fire started).

The correlation to business is again the same.  You could probably figure it all out on your own eventually, but how much time will you have left to enjoy it?  How much opportunity will you have missed out along the way?

Start learning from others that have already figured out what works, that have a proven track record, that can see what you’re missing, help you fill in the gaps, and build a championship team that will give you the freedom you probably went into business for in the first place.

If you’re just starting out, the library is full of excellent resources, and you can get access to many of them through their webpage, http://www.mdpls.org/.    If you want to move a little faster, the books and audio programs we have to offer are an excellent way to jump start your progress.  For those that need results immediately, give us a call today to see how we can help you achieve the results you want in the fastest way possible.

Oh, and if you want help on solving your Rubik’s Cube, check out Dan Brown’s page, here.

Play HUGE!

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