The Secret to Success is to Make Yourself Obsolete

Why is it that 80% of companies that are able to survive the first five years of business will usually fail in the next five? Shouldn't they know what to do after being in business for the first five years?

The reason is because markets and economies are changing so fast that what works in business today will not work in three to five years. If you have the mindset of constantly doing things the same way and maintaining the status quo, you will soon be out of business.

Successful entrepreneurs are engaged in constant and never-ending improvement (CANI). They are always finding ways to innovate and improve their business operations, marketing, products and services. They know that if their business is not improving and growing, it is dying. Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) once remarked that the key to succeed in business is to innovate and make yourself obsolete. If you don't make yourself obsolete, your competitors will make you obsolete.

This is why the moment a software like Windows is released, Microsoft is already working on the next version and upgrades like Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Vista and so on. Bill Gates knows that the moment they stop innovation, another company will create an even better software and take over their customers.

This is exactly what has happened to companies that did not change fast enough. Back in the 1990s, the top selling mobile phone was Motorola. Motorola produced the best-designed and technologically advanced phones. Everyone, including me bought a Motorola phone. So, where is Motorola today? Last I heard, their mobile phone business has been losing so much money that Motorola is thinking of shutting down the whole mobile phone business altogether. What happened? Well, Nokia and Sony Ericsson happened to innovate even better designed and more user friendly handsets that captured all of their market shares and profits.

Do you know which is the first search engine on the Internet? Is it Google? Yahoo? MSN? The answer is none of them. The world's first search engine is Alta Vista. Many of you may never have heard of this brand simply because it has it is an obscure site that very people go to. Needless to say, the company that was once a market pioneer and leader is now a business failure. Again, what happened was that the founders had the mindset that their search engine was good enough and there was no need to change what was working.

This left the door wide open for Yahoo! to come in and take away that leadership position. Then what happened next? Well, Yahoo! was too slow to extend their service range and innovate their advertising services such that Google (one of the newest Internet search engines) came along and took away 70% of the market share, leaving the remaining 30% to be fought over by the other search sites. In today's ever-changing marketplace, a company that is the market leader today could be bankrupt five years later, if they stop innovated and finding new ways of doing things.

Instead of seeing this fact as a threat, see it as a fantastic opportunity. This means that your new company could take over the leadership position of the largest competitor today and even put them out of business! The key is to find a way to serve their customers even better then they can!

So, let me emphasize again that unless you keep innovating and changing the way you do business, you will be out of business soon enough. I can tell you that if I did not grow my business to enter new regional markets like Indonesia, China, Thailand, India and Malaysia, I will be bankrupt today! My company's monthly overheads are about $500,000 and Singapore only accounts for 50% of my sales and profits. If I did not constantly focus on creating new programs (i.e. the Wealth Academy and Internet Marketing Academy series), writing new books (two a year) and changing my marketing and distribution strategy every day (i.e. entering the Singapore schools market), I wouldn't still be the market leader in personal development training in Asia. Another competitor would have caught up and blasted me away to oblivion.

Today, it is impossible to maintain your position in the market by doing the same thing. The reason is because customer's expectations change constantly, competitors improve constantly, employees work habits change constantly and so forth. So if you keep doing business the same way, you are actually going down, as everything around you is improving.

Adam Khoo is an entrepreneur, master investor, best-selling author and a self-made millionaire by the age of 26. Over the last 15 years, he has trained over 350,000 professionals, executives and business owners tap their personal power and achieve excellence in their various fields of endeavor. Visit his blog at http://www.Adam-Khoo.com or download your FREE bonus report "Supercharge Your Success" at http://www.SuccessWithNLP.com.

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7 Tips to Help You Escape the Rat Race

There are a lot of important things you could do to escape the rat race, but I have give you seven that come to the forefront of my mind. This should be a good starting point for the ambitious wealth builder.

Tip number one is: learn to invest. Get started reading the classic investment texts, a financial magazine, learn the terminology, and laws. Learn to analyze an investment. I would get started on this one, even if the economy seems bad. Create a model portfolio and watch the indicators, stocks, and etc. You will not start out as the best investor, so start learning.

Tip number two is: Live below your means. You have no alternative. If you are to retire, you need to save money for it. Even if you have a good pension, create another leg in your retirement stool. Delaying gratification will help you cut expenses. Wait for a better price on what you want to buy. Maybe you will change your mind altogether. Make it a mental game to buy good investments, rather than a frivolous purchase.

Tip number three is: Diversify your investments. Spread your money around some. You could still be somewhat concentrated in things you know about and are confident and comfortable with. It is very important not to put yourself into a high risk/low reward situation. Decide on a good asset allocation (a combination of various assets). Stay on top of your finances.

Tip number four is: Make a few big financial bets. Make some substantial financial bets on something you have a strong hunch will succeed. If you are right on a serious investment, it could be all you need to exit the rat race. Never make a bet you cannot afford to lose. Make sure you have done adequate research on your investments.

Tip number five is: Create a Mastermind. You need coaches and guides that are going where you are going. You need objective opinions and fresh perspectives. Masterminds have come in handy. That is why Andrew Carnegie advises us to start a mastermind in Think and Grow Rich.

Tip number six is: get into CANI (constant and never ending improvement). Use CANI to improve each area of your life, including your career, and investing. Applying the philosophy of CANI in your health, relationships, etc. will pay dividends as well.

CANI is easy, just admit you don’t know everything, and start making improvements. Improve a little every day. I encourage you to keep learning and growing even after you escape the rat race.

Tip number seven is to: move quick on things. When a task or project is dropped in your lap, get to work! Get going! Procrastination won’t help you escape the rat race. Video games, booze, and “power naps” won’t get you out of the rat race. Become the person who gets the job done. If you can’t get things done, you will spend more time in the rat race. Tackle tough projects without delay.

Today is the day to get going on your financial journey. Test some of these tips in your own life and see what happens.

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