Keeping Your Antennae Up

Jan/Feb 2008 -- Think playing competitive sports is tough? Sure, the pain of a jarring tackle or the exhaustion after a grueling marathon can push an athlete to the limit. Compared to the business world, however, the pain these individuals go through is slight.

Think about it. While the aches of an athlete’s muscles may be excruciating, these fade with rest and rehabilitation. The mental and intellectual focus a business person must maintain at a high, day-to-day level in the modern workplace, however, is constant. And while rest may ease the strain of such intensity, it is rest with one eye wide open: The business world never sleeps, and competition is always either ahead of you or breathing right down your neck. Unlike the worlds of most sports, there is no off-season in business, either.

To keep an edge, the businessman or woman must constantly train and stay in tip-top shape, just like the athlete. Especially in today’s economy, learning never stops in any profession, as new information and methods spring forth on an almost-daily basis. In addition, the business professional must look for any type of advantage that they can get in their specific fields.

Too often in today’s culture, businesses and companies resort to the tactics of gimmickry and novelty. While such an approach might yield initial temporary success, it eventually fades in the memories of consumers when the novelty wears off or the next PR bonanza comes down the pike. Such an approach can sometimes even put an unwarranted stigma on the product or brand name. Going back to the athlete analogy, novelty marketing is the equivalent of steroid use: It may work for a brief moment but can cause harm in the long run.

What is needed most profoundly in the business world today, I believe, is a niche: a staked-out market territory or approach that is either unchartered or has not been mined deeply enough, and is primed for the taking.

One of the beauties of capitalism, among many, is the fact that new discoveries and inventions beget many other new discoveries and inventions, ad infinitum. Moreover, all of these new goods and services beg for promotion, marketing, and application. Within this market largesse are many potential niches, sub-niches, and market corners that entrepreneurs must become attuned to and enter.

I call it “keeping the antennae up.”

Simply put, the antenna is the mind: its focusing and the usage of reason and logic on a given project or problem, while conversely being receptive to new information and incoming signals. Far from being a passive activity, this receptivity requires razor-sharp awareness that can turn into action on a dime.

I’d dare say that this “keeping the antennae” concept was the driving factor behind all of the world’s great business leaders, from Vanderbilt to Ford to Gates. Having the curiosity and vision to see business opportunities where none had previously existed and then exploiting them to the benefit of the world was what these great capitalists and others like them possessed in common.

Discovering a niche market within an existing one or creating a totally new market entirely is what keeping the antennae up means. On a smaller level, even while working at your existing job you can perhaps discover new ways of improving daily tasks or making your team or division more profitable. This certainly can be considered using the antenna, the entrepreneur’s radar, to better the task before you. Simply by staying focused and not falling into rote mechanics or the “getting by” mentality, one can improve his job and the jobs of his co-workers. You don’t have to create the automobile or PC, in other words, to utilize the antenna. It can be used to put a new, fresh spin on an existing job, making you more productive and probably happier in the process.

Here’s a few examples I’ve come across of keeping the antennae up.

As an avid runner, every month I read various magazines devoted to the sport. A few years ago, a piece in one of these publications grabbed my attention. It was about a 33-year-old female triathlete who one day caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror while she ran by. “I look like a boy!” she thought to herself. She went home and sketched out an idea that would allow her and other women athletes to feel more feminine during a run. The result? The technical skirt (or TransitionGirl skirt) was born. Now, women all over the world run in these skirts, and the young triathlete whose antenna was most definitely up has created a new product and a new livelihood.

In my own field of publishing (which cannot be said to be small by any stretch), I have made my mark by finding underserved groups, demographics, and geographical areas to target. I have even used my own antennae by observing what others have done in the publishing field in their markets and replicating it where I work (“creative duplication” I call it).

I have known of a number of professionals working in what might be considered static jobs who kept their antennae up. For instance, one small-town doctor decided to start writing and broadcasting “medical minutes” on his local TV station. These minutes soon went into syndication all over the doctor’s state, boosting his clinic and fattening his wallet. His antenna was up.

I also know of another physician, a urologist, who decided to self-publish a series of medical books on various ailments he treated. He would sell these books in the waiting room and, after achieving a good bit of success and notoriety for the idea, he landed a publishing contract. His antenna was up.

There was also the athletic attorney who took advantage of the fitness craze by starting a first-time marathon-training weekend club, charging participants a fee in exchange for the benefits of personal supervision and camaraderie. His antenna was up, as well.

Keeping the antennae up, then, can lead to undiscovered or untapped niches that can help the business person along in his career, start a new career, or help heal the bruises received in day-to-day competition. While the athlete gets a massage or a painkiller injection, the business person uses his or her mind to correct any existing problems or ease any worries. Solutions can be found by focusing hard enough.

Business is indeed hard, grueling work. It is, though, as rewarding as crossing the finish line or catching a touchdown. One way to keep it rewarding and joyous, even through the trials, tribulations, and long hours, is to keep looking for ways to improve and to keep looking for new opportunities that are out there, ready to be seen and discovered.

Keep the antennae up.

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