A Plan to Success

Let's say you have decided to go into business for yourself, and you are determined to make your business work. Will determination alone make you successful? Do you rent the first building you come across or do you look for the best location? How do you make yourself known? How will you promote your business? What will it cost to get started? What will it cost to maintain? Can you find the right people to help you with your business? Can you survive a bad month or two? Will you be flexible if things aren't working out? What resources are available to tap into? These are just a few questions that you may be asking yourself before, during and after you get started, and things can become quite confusing and distorted if you don't have a business plan.
What exactly is a business plan? Think of it as goal setting for your business. You must have goals and you must have a plan to execute the step by step process of achieving these goals. It's like a map to success. Without this map, or without these goals or without a well-written plan, you will be lost. Where am I going with this you ask? Well, think of it this way. The day you decide that motocross racing is the career path you have chosen, you have decided to start a business. In this case, YOU are the business. Can you wing it, ride a little here, jog a little there, and maybe lift weights once in a while? What about your friends, I've got to have time for them. Need to have time to drive around in my cool truck. And TV and video games, and time surfing the Internet. This is baggage, lots of baggage. You can get to the point where you are so over burdened with so many unnecessary things, that there will be no structure, time or consistency in what you are trying to acco! mplish. If you are not there to work your business, how can it prosper?
Let's say I take a group of 20 guys, all of equal talent, and I split them into 2 groups. The first group I just let them go about their training on their own, 6 months doing things the way they choose. The second group I put through the Navy Seals of MX Training. 6 months of pure hell, EVERYTHING planned out for them, no girls, no fast food, no TV, no video games, not an easy minute for 6 months. All hard training, lots of pain and suffering, always being put to the test, always being taken to the breaking point. If we're lucky, maybe one person will come out of the 6 months without quitting, but think of how that person will match up against the other 10 guys left on their own. Now of course you may say you don't want to give up everything you do to train like a Navy Seal, but I am trying to make a point here and get you thinking in the right direction. What sacrifices are you willing to make to accomplish your goals. I'd bet Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart, and Lance Arm! strong all chose the Navy Seal way. The homework has been done, the Seals have a plan, they know the direction they are going, and they have the resources to carry out their plan.
So where do you begin? Choose a time when you can sit down for an hour or two with NO distractions. Have some paper and be prepared to write them down! Don't be by the phone or the TV, and don't be in a hurry, this is important! Think about where you want to go with this. If you are a younger rider, ask your parents to help you. But you must start to formulate a plan. One that you can use to shape your life, goals and career. Be realistic. Something that I heard Jeff Spencer (trainer of the stars) say recently makes sense, "Don't try to be perfect, just get an A". Many people stray from their plan because of failure to meet their goals, and this is because many of them are unrealistic. Don't get caught in the trap of writing goals that put so much pressure on you. For example, "I want to win every race I enter this year". When the first race comes along and you fail to win, you will already get disappointed because you didn't win.
When writing your goals, start with a long-term goal, it may be a factory ride or winning a championship. This will take many years to attain, and you will have to work everyday to meet a goal like this. Then you need yearly goals like how you plan your mini career, how long in novice, intermediate and when to turn pro. Also, do I stay on 125's or move also need training goals and periods to measure if you are on track with your fitness levels. Include to the 250's. You some reading or some schools so you can learn about what you need to do. You MUST be a student of the sport. You have to thoroughly know and understand the sport. Also include diet and nutrition goals. If you are a picky eater, make a list of proven healthy foods and drinks, and see if you can find 2 or 3 items a month to add to your diet, within a year, you will have added 24 to 36 healthy things to your diet. Also, try to cut out 2 to 3 unhealthy items per month starting with Mc Donald's hamb! urgers and fries. Sorry, you want to do this right? Parents, are you with me on this, your example might be part of the problem.
Now we are to the most important goals, weekly and daily. You need to be honest when assessing your fitness level and riding techniques. Also your diet, bike set up and mental capacity. You must leave room for proper rest and recovery as well. Based on what you have decided to accomplish in the monthly goal, now you need to break it down a bit further in weekly and daily increments. Again, be realistic, don't try to kill yourself the first week, the reason we have long term goals is to make us aware of the big picture, and how much time we have to meet our goals. Be sure to include some personal and financial goals as well, a new truck, a nice bicycle, a home gym, money in the bank etc. You can't overlook your personal life, you just need to gear your plan in the direction you want to go. Be patient, good things take along time, so use your time well. A good career path is like climbing a ladder, one rung at a time. If you try to throw your leg to the top to fast, yo! u will fall off. But be aware, time is passing you by. There is an old saying that rings true, "Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them".
Something I would highly recommend to all of you is to read Lance Armstrong's book, "It's not about the bike". If this book doesn't motivate you, nothing will. It goes through Lance's near death with cancer and all the other adversities he faced, to becoming a 4 time Tour de France cyclist winner. I can't say enough about it!
Make sure after you write your goals, you refer to them daily. If you believe in them, they will mean enough to keep you motivated and on track. Make adjustments according to your progress. Get a training journal to write down what you are doing. You need to track your riding, workouts, what you eat and how you are recovering, if you don't hold yourself accountable, who will? Will your business prosper or will it fail? Only you can answer that question.