The First Step
- Rahul
- Jan 31, 2016
- 3 min read
In January 2015, I visited Las Vegas (NV). This was my first trip to the United States and also the first ever travel since I came to Canada for my MBA. This trip was special, not only because it was Vegas but also because I was seeing one of my best buddies after almost 4 years.
It was a 6 days long trip, full of site seeing and adventure. Being a student, money was always a constraint for me as well as for my friend, but having a research mind and a management attitude helped us cover this royal trip at an economic price. There are a lot of remarkable memories for me from this Vegas trip, but today I would like to share two key memories, which I found very much relevant to the ongoing journey of my MBA life and I believe that these are very relevant to any business venture around the globe:
1. The Hook, is always important:
Flights to Las Vegas are the cheaper and when you ride Spirit Airlines it becomes the Cheapest. I could complete my Toronto>New York>Las Vegas>Toronto journey at less than $200 USD. The cost of our hotel was under $50 per night (it was one of the best hotels in Las Vegas – Check out Stratosphere). The quality and variety of food at rock bottom prices is another major advantage of visiting Vegas. We could eat almost any meal under the price point of $15. History says, Vegas once struggled to attract tourism, but later on gambling and casino turned out to be its key differentiator. But that doesn't mean that people visit Vegas only to gamble. Visiting hotels in Vegas and enjoying their architecture is comparable to visiting any other popular holiday destination around the globe.
Now the million dollar question is, how is Vegas able to afford the best features at the rock bottom price?
Most people who know Vegas know the answer: these freebies in Vegas are covered through money made via gambling or I should rather say Vegas runs only with the money it makes through gambling and Casinos.
Similar is the case with any business operation, where the most essential item may probably not be most profitable. The most profitable item may be bringing 80% of your total revenue (as well as profitability), but you cannot afford to reduce your focus on items that bring rest of the 20% of your revenue. In business world, it is the investment to attract that 20% of total revenue, which then has a spill-over effect intriguing customers to contribute rest of the 80%.
2. It is too tough to begin and then it never fails:
I was all excited when we were heading for my first ever ATV ride to the red mountains with Adrenaline ATV Tours. Before the beginning of this three hour ride, each one of the nine riders were given a set of instructions, a demonstration, and then we were asked to do a trial run. Out of everyone, I was the only one whom the operator asked if I would be interested to come with them in a safe ride. I wanted to give this a try, so I refused the safe ride. Trust me, despite this confidence, right from the moment I began to drive, my only wish was that I can be back in one piece. My only fear was that the ATV may turn aside because of uneven terrain. Lately I realized that I was the bottleneck during the first half of this journey as I made sure to drive slow enough to be back in a single piece, until then I had not bothered to notice the driving of others. But then I began to observe while others drove and I realized that whatever happens this ATV is self-balanced enough to not turn over. After learning this, my fear was gone and during second half of this journey I was no more of a bottleneck, though I was still not the best.
This led me to believe that one fails only when they give up. Beginnings are always the toughest and you learn only when you are sailing over the ride. So go beyond thinking and begin driving. There is no such thing as failure, it is just giving up and/or never attacking back.
With this note, Bon Voyage to all the beginners including me....
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