Is your business a top seed? Be careful!

I love March. I love the NCAA tournament. The underdogs battling the favorites - David vs. Goliath. Which role does your business play?

When a much lower seed plays a top seed, the pressure is on the top seed. The coach of the top seed has to make sure his team is ready to play. They need to be sure that they are not overlooking their opponent. The lower seed can just go out and play. They have no expectations; they just have guts, desire, and the ability to work hard.

The business cycle is the same way. You started your business with guts, desire, and hard work. You had the guts to be different. You had the desire to super serve your customers and kick the competition's behind. You were willing to out work everybody.

Then you became the top seed. Have your guts been replaced with "why do we need to change?" Has the desire to super serve changed to "our customers love us?" Has the hard work been replaced by complancey. That is the fastest way for a top seed to get beat. In the tournament, it happens in one hour. Usually in business it happens over a longer period of time.

Spend some time this week truly analzying your business. Maybe it's time to find your guts, desire, and real work ethic.