I’ve been waiting a few weeks to write this. Naturally, I saw Endgame the weekend it came out. As a business owner back at infancy, for the time being, I use my weekends for family time and working on my business. Thus when Endgame came out I took in a matinee. Mornings when others are at their day jobs are great times for a refresher if you’re a business owner burning the candle at both ends. No one one will bother you and no one will know. Nonetheless, the movie was AMAZING! Just pure geeking out, laughing and what not. I always look at everything around me as learning opportunities. Thus naturally I asked myself what principles could I extract from the movie and how could I apply them?
If you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame, first slap yourself. Kidding. Second, stop now because SPOILERS AHEAD.
Predict Future Trends
This really is about Tony. He’s a futurist. Hawkeye mockingly hinted at it in Captain America: Civil War, but it’s true. Tony understands trends, people, technology, the economy and more. As a result, he can successfully predict what’s going to happen in the future and apply his skills so he’s ahead of it all. In some cases it got him into trouble like with Ultron (true comic fans know Hank Pym really created Ultron, but we’re talking MCU here). However, Tony’s futurist nature fueled his drive for betterment and preparedness. He understood that with the birth of Ironman threats to it would come up and he created the Hall of Iron with all the variations of his suits. He said it himself in Ironman 3, he had to protect what he loved most and so he did what he did best, he tinkered. I mean come on Hulkbuster armor, an armor that responded to his thoughts, the Iron Spider suit, Nano armor and more. Each new version was better than the previous. Can you read trends in your industry?
By conducting client surveys, reading industry news and analyzing trends in your business you can predict how to best solve the problems of your target audience. Additionally, look outside your industry to see successful models of other businesses and apply the principles to your own and you’ll be the innovator everyone wants to do business with. With that there will be successes and failures, but you have to look on the bright side.
You’re going to fail until you win. But you only need one time to succeed.
Maintain a positive outlook
The Avengers suffered greatly. They were tasked with protecting the world. They knew Thanos was coming in Avengers: Infinity War. They had a plan to stop him with both the resources and manpower to pull it off. Yet they still lost and lost big. In business a loss like that would drive some to close their doors, but not this team. They still continued to fight and find a way to save everyone even though they were already gone. What’s more is that they didn’t give up even though the rest of the world moved on. They weren’t ready to throw in the towel. Yes, it took an incredible toll on them and others emotionally. Losing does that. But you can either stay down or chose to get up.
No business is immune to failure. It will happen. It will affect others and there will be consequences. Entrepreneurship is very much like the movie, many losses leading up to the big win. However, you only get there by having the grit and resolve not to let your losses define you. There’s always a way to win, you just have to find it. Sometimes you find a way and sometimes a way presents itself, like the wildcard the team was dealt.
Take advantage of wild cards
With Thanos destroying the stones all hope of reversing the snap was lost until Antman showed up. His theory about the quantum realm and time travel was just the opportunity they needed to succeed. It was the happy accident that allowed them to think outside the box for radical solutions. You need to do the same.
Some business challenges you need to MacGyver. Other challenges become happy accidents. It’s the solution that came about as you were tinkering, stopped and said this could work. The key to leveraging such an opportunity is to not stop when you’re down but to continually look for a winning angle. Anything that comes along, take it because it may be your only shot on goal.
Act as if every opportunity is your only opportunity
In Infinity War Dr. Strange said that he saw 14 million losing scenarios and only one victorious scenario. That’s all Tony needed when the time came in Endgame. The caveat is that he was prepared for it in several ways. He already had his lineage secured, the Infinity Gauntlet was his design which meant he controlled it and he leveraged Dr. Strange’s gambit. At the end of the day Tony understood if giving up his life meant everyone lived then he was going to take advantage of it. Do you put it all on the line in your business?
Now I’m not saying quit your job tomorrow and start from ground zero. That might not be a risk you can jump into headfirst if you have kids or other major expenses. But, like Tony, you can take steps to prepare like having a savings account equivalent to your year’s salary. That way you can live off it while you go out and build your business. Or you can work it as a side hustle until that income is the same as your day job. You could also get a loan to fund the start up cost or other means. But at the end of the day you must realize that if jumping into entrepreneurship is the only opportunity to realize the goals you want for your life and your family’s then take it.
Steve Harvey once said something profound about taking leaps into financial freedom. He said that when you jump your parachute won’t open at first. You will fall, get scraped and so forth but eventually your parachute will open and you’ll soar into your dreams. That’s the final lesson of the movie.
It doesn’t matter how times you fail you only need one time to succeed
With the time stone Dr. Strange saw them fail millions of times. Both through Infinity War and Endgame they failed over and over again, but they only needed one way to succeed. My word was that way spectacular. Yibambe! Are you seeing a trend in this article at all?
This was probably the biggest lesson. You’re going to fail until you win. But you only need one time to succeed. Yes, everyone will talk. Everyone will remember and even point out your failures more than your successes. But everyone will also jump on the bandwagon when you win.
Bandwagon jumpers will be a reality when you see real business success and brand longevity. But that’s not the reason why you started your business in the first place. It wasn’t to gloat and say, “I told you I could do it.” Like the Avengers, you do it for the greater good. You do it because, like Tony, you can see future trends and want to be the innovator of them. You do it to make sure you’re solving a problem for people who can’t solve it on their own. As a result everyone wins. If that’s your attitude then it won’t matter what anyone says. If your idea will help the masses then you won’t care how many times you fail. You’re just going to keep fighting all adversities until you win. That is your Endgame.
