Open Letter to Entrepreneurs from Tim Meadows-Smith Champion StartUp Suffolk

The gold dust has settled from London 2012, I wanted to share some thoughts with you on the

extraordinary spectacle and experience we’ve been through this summer – and some observations

that might be of use in you Entrepreneurial life.

I was going to write this email the day of the closing ceremony but I think it may be of more use now

Britain has got back to ‘normal.’

So, some thoughts on the London Olympics of 2012…….

First, I think we had all forgotten what an extraordinary country Britain can be. Somewhere, back in

the mists of times, our ancestors had the balls to call our country GREAT Britain. I think we had lost

track of why. I know I had. This summer has shown us why. It’s been exciting just to live here but it’s

also been a privilege. The organisational and logistic achievement of what we did and how well we

did it was breath-taking. I’m not sure what was more impressive…..turning up at the Olympic

stadium and seeing this extraordinary creation – or leaving the stadium with a hundred thousand

people and somehow getting onto that Javelin train and back to London in 7 minutes without having

to queue for a moment. I have absolutely no idea how they did it.

I do know that the whole 2012 experience was a profound reminder that when we Brits get our act

together, we can do anything as well as any country in the world – and in many cases much better.

It’s worth us remembering that as we run our businesses. It’s easy to believe that we have an

inherent disadvantage against the global economic superpowers. That’s not the case. If anything the

opposite is true. We have a history of producing results massively dis proportionate to our relatively

small population. Think of the opening ceremony and that never ending stream of music we have

gifted the world.

Talking of music, that wonderful opening ceremony also reminded us of our creative genius. From

The Beatles, to Shakespeare and so much more, we are an island brimming with creativity. I’ve

always argued that great Entrepreneurism isn’t primarily about business skills. They’re easy to

master. Great Entrepreneurism is about creativity. Whatever business you have, you’ve created it

out of absolutely nothing. Reaching your goals and solving future problems will require skill – but

above all it will require your creativity. Tapping into our innate creativity is something we could all

do more of.

As an aside, it’s also worth remembering that there’s a direct link between creativity, intelligence

and humour. A sense of humour requires the ability to link seemingly unrelated factors in your brain

in unusual ways. So does creativity and intelligence. I’ve been constantly reminded of Britain’s sense

of humour over these weeks. From Rowan Atkinson’s Chariots of Fire to the jokes and banter of

those incredible volunteer Games Makers. Our sense of humour is an asset. There were mumblings

after the opening ceremony that some countries wouldn’t ‘get’ some of it. No they wouldn’t. That’s

the point.

My brother lives in America and his friends are fond of proclaiming their country the greatest on

earth. I respect their patriotism but I don’t think the world is that black and white. In any context, we

have the opportunity to be as good, or better than anyone else. For example Sir Richard Branson’s

Virgin America airline is kicking ass in the country of supposed superior customer service. There’s no

reason each of us can’t do the same in our own field of endeavour.

In the past I’ve been as guilty as anyone of complaining about our country. It’s a lot easier to moan

than to get on with being collectively ‘Great’. But in the summer of 2012 my country did something

to me it had never done before. It humbled me. I grew up in the London suburbs, as a teenager I

worked on social programs for kids in Bermondsey and put on activities in Greenwich Park. This

summer I experienced not only the most stunning backdrop imaginable for the equestrian events,

but also Britain winning gold. I wasn’t expecting that and I certainly wasn’t expecting how emotional

it would be when they raised the flag and played the anthem. Unlike my daughter, Becky, I don’t

claim to be an equestrian expert but it seems this all happened because one of our team, in his 50s,

broke his neck a few years ago and was told he’d never ride again and totally refused to buy into his

diagnosis. That’s another thing the British are good at – sheer bloody mindedness.

The next thing may be obvious – but it’s worth focusing on. The Olympic Games is about the leading

edge of human excellence. We’ve just immersed ourselves in two events over two and a half weeks

surrounded by human beings at the pinnacle of that excellence. One of the interesting things about

studying excellence is that the context is fairly irrelevant if you’re interested in learning from high

achievers. In other words, the fact that Bradley Wiggins rides bikes and you run a business doesn’t

matter if you’re interested in learning profound lessons from Bradley. In fact, the British cycling

team’s three pronged approach to success that has made them the best in the world, can be

mapped across to business almost word for word. For example, their approach to incremental

improvements is what we would call optimisation. It would be a very good use of your time to watch

interviews with the high achievers from the Olympics and take notes. I did and have lots of sheets of

paper with scribbled notes now cluttering my desk as a result.

There are numerous lessons we can learn from the gold medal winners and most are beyond the

scope of this message. But I’ll make one observation. I didn’t see any gold medal winners who got

there by making a vague decision about how successful they’d like to be, putting in the same effort

as the masses and not working weekends. I’m not sure why so many business owners who take that

type of half-hearted approach, are so surprised that their life is such a struggle. You get gold by

getting up when everyone else is asleep and putting in the work that others won’t. Gold medals are

not won on the track in summer they are won by do it again and again and again through rain, sleet

and snow in winter when others sit by the fire. You get gold by failing and coming out of that failure

with an iron resolve that nobody will shake. You get gold by doing the gymnastic leap of your life,

with a bandaged broken toe.

Of course, when we see the proud athlete with their gold medal glistening in the London sun, we

don’t see the cold, dark mornings of training they endured to get there. Likewise, when you turn up

in your shiny new car (or whatever your equivalent) the people in your world won’t necessarily have

seen the Entrepreneurial pain and heartache you endured to get there. But the gold medal winner

and the Entrepreneurial winner are the same in many ways. They know precisely what they want.

And they’re willing to pay the price to get it.

Finally, one of the great joys of the 2012 Olympics was that Britain stopped moaning. An

extraordinary achievement I thought impossible. I experienced several London taxi drivers who were

totally silent. There was nothing to moan about, so they had nothing to say. Ironically, most of us

Brits think we stopped moaning because the Olympics were so great. I would say that the Olympics

were so great partly because we stopped moaning. You simply can’t have that level of excellence

with negativity. The laws of the universe won’t allow it.

Our culture and our media’s obsession with negativity is, I believe, one of Britain’s greatest

challenges going forward. This difficult economy will pass. Our attitudes won’t. Our media and

culture is all-too-quickly returning to ‘normal’. The high we experienced at the Olympics was not a

flash in the pan. Actually, like ‘D day, Waterloo and Shakespeare’, they’ll be a collective reference

point for the country as a nation reminding us that when we apply ourselves we can be ‘Great

Britain’.

But for YOU as an individual you can make the choice not to return to ‘Normal’. The Olympians are

already focused on Rio 2016 and proving they are the best in the world.

We, in Britain have just experienced our country functioning at an extraordinary level of excellence.

You’ve seen what we’re truly capable of, when strategy, mind-set and a belief in possibility are

aligned. And as if that wasn’t enough, hundreds of the world’s most incredible, success driven

individuals have come to our country and shown us, day after day, levels of human achievement that

are simply staggering.

I hope you enjoyed the Olympics as much as I did. But I also hope that you’ll consider using it as a

wake-up call. A wake-up to what you’re capable of. And, maybe, a wake-up to the possibility that

you are not even scratching the surface of your true potential.

Remember, you live in a country where James Bond went to pick up the Queen to take her to the

Olympics. It’s OK to be proud.

To recapture the spirit of the summer of 2012, to learn the lessons for Enterprise, to bring together

people determined to succeed in business I have organised Business Camp 2012.

We have an Olympian keynote speaker. A four times British AAA’s Champion, three times

Commonwealth Games medallist, and European Championships medallist who is turned successful

entrepreneur to help us understand better what it takes to be the best in the world. We will use and

work through the Millionaire Business Blueprint as a framework for discussion, interact and share

experiences together. Successful entrepreneurs are a bit ‘weird’ most people don’t understand us.

When we achieve, some despise our success. It is vital you spend quality time with other

entrepreneurs to help you realise your goals and achieve success in business.

Your life as an entrepreneur is expensive, it requires total commitment. Business Camp 2012 is FREE

to attend but a big investment of your time in your business future. Free tickets from

www.StartUpSuffolk.co.uk . I’ll be meeting the future Team GB for Enterprise Champions on Friday

26th October at UCS Ipswich for Business Camp 2012 “Winning Ways for Enterprise”.

No doubt, I’ll see you there.