Jan 17 The Moneyball Entrepreneur

The movie, "Moneyball" is by far the most inspirational movie for business owners that has come out in years.

That's right. I said "business owners," not "baseball fans." Because "Moneyball" is really about the last entrepreneur in the baseball business - Billy Beane - the Oakland A's manager who changed the game in 2002.

Here's the trailer:

Innovate

"A proprietor (as described by Peter Drucker) is a business owner who pretty much adds nothing meaningful to the business category they address ... They don't redefine the concept."
~ as spoken by Jay Abraham

What the "entrepreneur" does (also according to Drucker) that the business owner does not do is redefine the concept.

Billy Beane changed baseball forever with sabermetrics (focus on statistics rather than traditional methods for judging players). He also took a lot of flack for sticking with his innovative process - the part of the story the movie captures the best.

The Lesson

From my perspective as a Business Coach (now going on my 15th year of helping business owners and entrepreneurs), the willingness to redefine or completely invent your business is an important key to business success, especially in these times.

There are too many other businesses offering what you offer ... and probably at competitive prices. Combined they have more advertising and marketing dollars to spend, so they will drown out your own message. Collectively, they likely have been in the space longer and established a stronger position in the mind of your potential clients / customers / patients, so that is an uphill battle, too.

If there is nothing unique or special about what you do or the products you offer, there is no reason for anyone to show allegiance to you. At that point, what you offer is a commodity and the only defining factor becomes price. Especially when you are a small business, it is virtually impossible to win a price war, especially with bigger opponents.

The Other Lesson

Billy Beane knew that a team like the Athletics (with a $41 million payroll) COULD compete with the big-money teams like New York and Boston ($100+ million payrolls) IF Oakland changed how the game was played. That is the story behind "Moneyball" and it is told brilliantly (almost restored my faith in Hollywood film-making).

What was most interesting to me though was that Billy turned down a lucrative offer to run his system with a big-money team (the Red Sox offered him $12.5 to be their manager). He is still trying to beat those teams, even though he no longer has the edge.

Being an innovator gives you (David) the edge to beat your competition (Goliath) ... but it no longer works when Goliath has the same weapons that you have.

John

John Buerger is a Business Coach and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. As a specialist in resource management, he helps clients (entrepreneurs and business owners) take a strategic approach to getting the most from their investment of money, time and energy - the Big Three of Business (and Life) Resources.