Two days ago, I went through my social media feeds and all I could see was Tiger Woods. Before then I didn’t know who he was so I decided to do some digging of my own and was I amazed? Yeah right, I was.
After reading his story, all I could say was his name deserves to break the internet. Just as I did not know him so also do a lot of people, so I will do a brief biography of Tiger Woods first.
Tiger Woods started his professional golf career in the year 1996 and he achieved his first No.1 ranking in June 1997. In 2015, He became the only athlete who made a lot of money in ten years with the sum of $845 million to his name. Amongst the good things he experienced in his career, he met with roadblocks in 2009 ranging from claims of adultery to a divorce, DUI arrest, losing all his endorsements and sustaining injuries which had him passed through four major surgeries.
During the course of his trials, he missed four majors in one year. He also withdrew from the Masters Tournament. Amidst all these, he won the masters competition after 11 years of been inactive.
Tiger Woods’ failures and victories are synonymous to the life of an entrepreneur and I can’t stop but see some lessons any smart entrepreneur can glean from this iconic story, and they include:
Own your story
Thrive
Confidence
Teamwork
Learning
Own Your Story
As an entrepreneur, you need to know that your entrepreneurial journey or story is not dependent on any factor but yourself. The government, the economy or your competitor cannot be held accountable for your story except yourself. As an entrepreneur you have the power to rewrite your story and that can only be done when you identify your story and begin the process of rewriting it to the story of your choice just like Tiger Woods did.
Thrive
You should know that just as there are good days, so also will there be bad days if not worse days. Therefore, as an entrepreneur, you should be prepared to weather the storm even when knocked down just like Tiger Woods did for only then can you bloom.
Always have this at the back of your mind as you move on in this entrepreneurial journey: Every Business Hero you see and admire today has sad and pathetic story to tell. If there’s no tough moment, there will be no heroism.
Every Business Hero you see and admire today has sad and pathetic story to tell. If there’s no tough moment, there will be no heroism.
Confidence
Tiger Woods was confident enough to compete in the tournament notwithstanding the news headlines on Newspapers screaming you can’t do it and the naysayers. Hey, see… If you must emerge strong and super successful in this journey as an entrepreneur, you must learn to be confident and first believe in yourself no matter whatever people around you say. In the words of Donald Trump, the current American President, “Let your guts not your sight guide you”.
“Let your guts not your sight guide you” – Donald Trump
Teamwork
You should always know when to put together a team to achieve a
common goal in the most effective and efficient way. Tiger Woods as a world
class champion still sort out the help of a coach in achieving a goal (the Masters’
tournament). Team work makes the dream work.
Learning
The day you stop learning as an entrepreneur that’s the day, everything you represent start dying. The world is a dynamic place, a place characterized by constant change. Tiger Woods understands this principle better.
Tiger Woods’ story has a lot of lessons to be learnt and whatever the lesson might be, an entrepreneur should be ready to put in the work.
Chisom Okeke
Chisom Okeke, popularly known as “Somly” is a graduate of Accounting from the University of Benin, Benin City. She is a phenomenal writer and an “Agripreneur” whose focus is to change the narrative of the agricultural sector by providing timely agricultural information and opportunities available in the agricultural sector. She is also a virtual assistant and the anchor of Somly Writes.