Being ahead means leaving your competitor behind. In business, of course,  we want to be ahead because there are many benefits like leadership and profitability. Its funny how my experience yesterday made me think of how to put a business ahead of its competitors.Yesterday morning, on my way up to work, a student behind me was running fast. He was shouting “EXCUSE ME” to everyone in front of him, we was so in a hurry to catch the elevator. I said to myself, “no matter how fast you run, or slow I am, we will be inside the same elevator and you just wasted precious energy.” True enough, we were inside the same elevator. He pressed the close button furiously leaving the others outside. I asked him if he was late and he said yes. Then I told him this, “If you do not want to be late, you have to wake up early.” So in business, if you want to be ahead, you have to be early. You have to be early in catching the trends and early in putting your ideas to action. Running is no use when you are late. When you are late, you are LATE.

Later that day, almost the same thing happened. A Porsche hurriedly zoomed away, leaving my car behind. Again, I said to myself, “I will see you in the traffic light”. So i drove and saw the Porsche 3 cars away from the traffic light. I continued driving but I chose the lane which I think will move ahead faster. I chose the middle lane and I was 5 cars away from the traffic light, but I know it will move faster then the Porsche’s lane. Again, my hunch was correct. The big truck in front of him moved so slow, so I was able to cross the traffic light faster.

The Porsche will move faster  than my car on an empty road but on a cluttered road, horse power does not matter. In business, if you want to be ahead, you have to choose the right path.   What matters is the strategy and not the size of the company.

If you want to move ahead, there are 2 things to remember. First, be early on the game and second, choose the path that will put you ahead of the game, its not the size of your competition but the strategy that matters. The 2 strategies can be used by small businesses, and it does not take much to use them. All you need is anticipation and a good strategy to be ahead of the game.