Star Wars is an exceptionally amazing movie franchise. The movies have got everything: action, romance, politics, family. And while the prequel trilogy is nowhere close to the original trilogy, especially the Jar Jar Binks calamity, my generation was still stoked to see the saga on the big screen.
Apart from being an entertaining movie franchise, Star Wars can teach us a lot about successfully running a business. In business, your job is “Do, or do not. There is no try”, the same advice is given by Master Yoda to Luke during the training. You cannot just attempt to do something, to achieve success one needs to be consistent and must follow-up.
An entrepreneur can learn leadership skills from Star Wars series. The Star Wars movies have taught us to really believe in our self and to harness our internal power to accomplish the task. There is no word called “try”. One needs to be focused on following their dreams to fulfill it successfully. That being said, here are the top 20 tips Star Wars can teach small business owners:
1. Be a part of highly efficient and capable team
The character of Rey is an independent packrat on Jakku. She roams around and collects spare parts and gets some food in an exchange for it. Rey would have remained a lonely person if she wasn’t “rescued” by the BB-8 droid and Finn, who then go on to meet the memorable Han Solo and faithful sidekick Chewbacca. Similarly, always hire, or decide to work with people whose belief is in working together as a unit while sharing a common end goal, as that’s the greatest asset for your business.
If you want to be the best in your domain, always select the best companions. Create and be part of the team which can focus on growing the business. For a strategic alliance, with another business partner with whom you can reach your goal. It is a cost-effective way, as well as, you all can equally analyze the potential risks, capabilities, resources and work together innovatively to strengthen the business
As a team, they had huge strength and the same can be applied to the small business. With the progress in time, their small business can see a great height with effective teamwork. A start-up cannot work alone and deal with everything individually, it is must for them to collaborate with a capable team.
2. Don’t Spoon Feed
Nobody knew Darth was Luke’s father and Princess Leia was Luke’s sister. You need to educate your co-workers and clients about the techniques but never share all the secrets with them they won’t need you in future. Always maintain a little secrecy when it comes to business, it is not essential to share everything with everyone.
If you are too lenient with your employees or customer then it would be difficult for you to focus on other productive business needs. You cannot help them with everything, it is must for them also to take time and learn new techniques. Never make your small business too available to anyone; it will lose its dignity slowly.
3. Stay Cool
Practice meditation and self-control. It is a must, especially during stressful situations. This is the policy followed by Jedi. A cool mind will think of a better solution always. Great leaders practice self-control even during the stressful and difficult time. A small business is undoubtedly stressful but everything can be resolved with a stable mind and smart thinking. Maintain calmness and self-control to achieve success.
4. Be well aware of fear and greed
Small business is definitely full of struggles but never take a back step just because of your fear. Success comes to those, who struggle hard and make a mark of themselves. Remember the lines of Yoda, be fearful when others are greedy and vice versa. Take every aspect of business with a pinch of salt.
5. Get a powerful name which reflects your personality
Finn was called as FN-2187 as initially but later he became friends with pilot Poe who called him Finn. The name became his identity similarly it is crucial to name a small business effectively. The name should demonstrate what your business caters. It is important for the name to be attractive, relevant and easy to understand by users. almost all type of names are successful when it comes to business but a simple, short, crisp and easy to spell name would be the best choice. A name not only provides identity to your business, but it creates a brand image in the people’s mind. Get a powerful name and demonstrate your brand to the mass audience.
6. Follow a mentor who can take your business to the next level
By the end of Star Wars movies, you can see Rey reaches the Ahch-To planet where Rey meets Luke Skywalker. According to the trailer of The Last Jedi, we can see Rey gets trained by Luke.
It is must for the entrepreneurs of small business to get guidance and motivation from their mentor. The mentor is the best person who can share his experience and will give you the best advice which is crucial to deal with all ups and downs of the business. Nobody becomes successful in a single day, it takes a lot of time, efforts, and experiences. While running a small business, you will get plenty of surprises, lessons, and experiences. A good mentor is the best person who can provide you with correct advice at the right time. A mentor’s presences will make your journey smooth, with their support you can cross all the hurdles and take your small business to a successful position.
7. Expand to wide range of audience
We all know about the Star Wars franchise. The movies got huge attention and most of them were enjoyed globally (glaring at you, Prequel trilogy). It had an audience of all age group and from demography area. Similarly, expand your business to a huge audience, let them have knowledge about the products and services you cater. Try to reach them through different channels and get the attention of the potential customer.
8. Don’t go to The Dark Side
The dark side of the force is a shortcut way to get what you want. But, it is not the best choice. Similarly, never take shortcuts in business, always follow the ethical way to build customer. The Dark Side can only provide temporary success for which you need to pay a hefty amount.
9. Appreciate uniqueness
Both alliance and aspire accepted each other and utilizes their individual uniqueness. The best example for this would be the alliance between Han and Chewie (our heart goes out to Chewie in the moment of loss of his lifelong friend). Similarly, always appreciate and celebrate your staff, investor, customer, and colleague’s uniqueness. Celebrate their skills and accept it gracefully. You can learn from each other’s uniqueness and skills, no one is an expert, and everyone has to start from somewhere.
10. Always have a backup plan
When it comes to business, it is essential to have a backup plan to get away with disaster. A recovery plan is very crucial for the business especially the data. It was challenging for Darth Vader to safeguard his investments in Death Star which gets blown up. Similarly, when it comes to business, it is crucial to have a well-planned risk management strategy. It will provide access to only authorized person to enter the workplace and access the data.
11. Believe in wiser people – Without thinking of their age or size
Luke traveled to Dagobah to get Jedi training from Yoda. Luke has already added a lot in his young age and still had a lot to learn from experience person. You cannot accomplish everything by yourself, it is significant to take assistance and help from wiser person to be an expert in your business. Just like Yoda helped Luke to be a well skilled and knowledgeable person, you also need to belie a wiser person who can guide you throughout your journey to be a successful entrepreneur.
Size never matters. A small business can surely complete with large business if you have excellent skills and follow the right practice to achieve the goal. Trying does not guarantee you success in a marketplace. If you don’t have the skills and time to do something, never take it up. It is better not to do and leave rather just trying to do. For all the growing companies it is crucial to establish a good relationship with their customer. Never disappoint the customer and always deal with them with the greatest precision.
12. Never push yourself harder if you are already feeling bad about the situation
Always follow your instinct; never put yourself in the situation where you got a bad feeling about it (check Luke, Jedi Temple, Kylo Ren, and why he is scared of Rey now). Always trust your gut instinct when it comes to the business. All you need to do is close your eyes and follow your instinct. Breach of network and security can give a bad feeling to everyone. Especially when it comes to business, a network breach is the worst thing which could happen. The confidential information of business and consumer can be stolen and misused. Never push yourself harder if you don’t find the situation appealing or comfortable.
13. Take advantage of Force
Never underestimate the Force. It will be always with you, this was told by Ben to Luke. Similarly, the cloud computing is always available for the small business. It is there 24*7 all 365 days. Make the most of cloud computing, it is best for crucial documentation. The best part is, it can be accessed from anywhere and anytime. It is extremely robust and highly secure to store all the critical customer data related to the business. Yours all business have the power to achieve everything. Believe in yourself. Focus on every minute detailing like customer experience, developing employee skills, training newcomers, implementing new technologies, proving support to the customer. All these are a win-win situation for the growing business.
14. Correct timing is everything
Without Han’s timely intervention, it was almost impossible for Luke to finish the 1st Death Star. Similarly, when it comes to small business everything should be done in a timely manner. Timing is crucial for the business, you need to make the correct decision at the right time.
15. Be down to earth and focused
Finn tries to escape the First Order, and for that he needed the help of pilot Poe. With his help, Finn escapes and survives by creating his own methodologies. He gains the skills to fight his own battle and hence creates his fate. With a growing business, it is very easy to get distracted. The entire business performance is highly depended on your contribution. Your job is to do it or do not. There is no in-between path, never leave customer issues unresolved, it will create bad experiences and the black mark for the business. Always be consistent with quality and focus on good customer service. This will boost the small business to great heights. Similarly, if you are looking to collaborate with some investor to develop your business to a higher level than it is crucial to identify the risks and potential threats which can arise. It is okay to be innovative when it comes to a business but before starting it is a must to identify all the aspects of finance, management, and technical support. Focus on all the pros and cons.
16. Don’t stick to the past, welcome the future
When it comes to small business, you can play safe by using the methods that you have used in past to achieve success. But, when you grow your business, it is essential to adopt new things and adapt according to the changing world. Learning advanced technology is significantly important to reduce the cost and increase the success rate of a business. Not always the past policy will work, you need to get into the playfield and take all possible risks to achieve success. Adapt to a new trend and technology is definitely difficult but not impossible.
The trend of social media is gearing up. It is the cost-effective method to promote business online. But, on several occasions, you may not see drastic growth in the customer number as it is a new technology but it plays a crucial role to promote business in the online market space. The small business should use social media and other similar platforms to generate huge revenue. You need to come out of the past and adapt changing trend. Additionally, social media will boost your business by providing important business information and increase the audience engagement.
Similarly, the trend of mobile applications is doing rounds in the market. It is definitely a new trend but is here to stay. Create a customized web app for your business, the customers will be highly benefited from it. Never shy away from adopting a change. Change is crucial especially for small and growing business.
17. Appearance can be deceiving
Never judge a business opportunity or co-worker by their appearance. At the end of the day, skills and knowledge matter when it comes to business. A small business can only grow high with the help of skilled professionals. Remember the character of Yoda?
A well-established marketing company may look highly professional but they may not be good with effective strategic planning for your business. Whereas a start-up can do wonders for your business. Never judge anyone based on their appearance.
18. Be responsive
A business cannot achieve great success if it is not responsive to its customers and client. A timely response to the staff member, clients, customers via email, and the phone is very crucial for the business. It is a must to response the people and to solve their queries. Never thrash their queries and responses. It might be hard to understand all of them, but once you do, your customers will always be loyal towards you.
In the current generation of social media marketing, the customer expects a response from the company and responding to the customer on time is definitely an investment as it demonstrates loyalty.
19. Stay ahead of competitors
When it comes to successful business strategies, you should always be ahead of the schedule. Luke starts his training late and doesn’t listen. Being a perfectionist is essential for the small business owner as it has a great impact on the business success but it is not always possible. Perfectionism should be practiced from day 1 this prevents risk-taking and procrastination.
During the initial days of Facebook development, they followed the motto done is better than being perfect. Let this be your motto as well so that your business can grow. Always work hard, prioritize your responsibility and finish it on time. In this competitive work, small business needs to move forward and focus on timely delivery they can always learn through trial and error.
20. Introduce your products and services again and again
Star Wars was a massive hit but people forgot the movie and then again it came with a bang. Similarly, if your customer acknowledges and appreciates some part of your business, they will definitely appreciate it again. This is the biggest benefit for small business. It is okay to recycle ideas and aspect of the business. (Prequel trilogy, Sequel Trilogy, Solo’s solo movie, and more)
The Star Wars franchise has created not only a huge fan following but has also shared excellent learning opportunities with the small business. Keep these tips in mind and implement them. Your small business will see a drastic growth.
And while you are busy creating an empire out of your business, May The Force Be With You!
