Woohoo – the European Soccer Championship 2024 in our country will end with the great finale in Berlin tonight.
Tomorrow, the jolly and good-tempered international league of fans will pack their bags and we can go back to normal.
Drama, Baby, Drama
Yes, I feel sorry for the German team that didn`t survive the round of 16. They performed great in the group stage of the tournament.
But in the first match of the knock out round they narrowly lost against the Spanish team „at a flip of the coin“, as international commentators said. Tough luck!
A comforting thought for the German team: They lost against one of the finalists – and maybe the next European champion.
Anyway, it was great entertainment all the way through: “There was incredible drama right to the end, you could not take your eyes off it“, another commentator said.
Both teams met on eye level, but the exciting all-or-nothing contest not only created nail-biting suspense. It also revealed strengths as well as weaknesses of the players in a very obvious way.
Business is business, with or without a ball
The dramatic match made the whole stadium vibrate. Watching it all the way through, I realized it was a practical example and an object lesson for what really matters, if you want to successfully run your business and achieve your goals.
In Europe, soccer is big business. It’s all about stardom and money. Tons of money.
The deciding factor for clubs and players is the success curve in important tournaments. You have to be top-notch, make the media and please your audience with spirit, effort and drama not only once, but all the time, if you want to get a substantial piece of the pie.
Losses and defeats are part of the game, but the fans want to see their heros stand up again, dust themselves off and jump into the next competition.
As a famous German soccer coach once said: „After the game is before the game.“
The obvious lesson
As a solopreneur, you may not be known to the broader public and rarely move billions of Euros or Dollars around. But the principle is true for you as well:
Be „famous and loved“ by your target group or in your special little business bubble, be visible and approachable for your clients, create magic moments for them and get paid for your special, valuable impact, not for your working hours.
Another important factor for you as the captain is staying in control. And when you perform, you need the right mix of individual skill and clever, effective and loyal teamwork.
When the German soccer team met the Spanish, it was abvious they had the skill and the will. But they lacked precision. The Spanish, in contrast, had a kind of „somnambulistic“ perfection in their team play.
When passing the ball, no matter what situation, the sender almost always reached the right recipient in the right way, which made their offensive extremely effective and „dangerous“.
Their problem, however, was the finish. A lot of opportunities, most of them clearly missed. But in the end, Lady Luck was on their side. They scored the winning goal literally at the last minute.
Being a solopreneur, you will also depend on luck every once in a while. However, it will shine on you more often, when you got your fundament right.
As the Roman philosopher Seneca put it: Luck is when opportunity meets preparation.
1 thought on “A Solopreneur’s Learning from a Soccer Game gone wrong”
Liebe Gefion,
was für ein inspirierender Beitrag. “Den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen”.
Vielen Dank, ein schöner Start in die Woche. Lg. Vera