I spent a week this August in Northern Michigan and watched as my wife and daughter fished. For me personally – I just take them off the hook and watch as my “girls” do their thing. As I sat their doing my favorite hobby, thinking about entrepreneurship, I pulled out my iphone and made some notes. It was the genesis of yet another blog post. I hope you enjoy it. Oh and lest you wonder, that Pike was 32 pounds and 4 feet long. We had to bolt the darn fish to the deck to keep from tipping. Gloves — it was really slippery. Taste – the pike patties were excellent even my 4 year old daughter thought so.

1) It’s easier to land a fish if you know what kind you’re going after.
2) I’d rather fish in a stocked pond than a big ocean.
3) If you use the same old approach as everyone else you’ll get the same results as everyone else. That’s not always bad but it may take a long time to land a trophy.
4) If you want to land the big fish you gotta work harder and smarter than the others angling for the same prize.
5) Flashy and loud works some time but never as well as being there when they need you.
6) The more times you try the more times you stand to win.
7) Preparation may not always mean you’ll do better than the next guy but it sure improves your odds.
Not just experience but learning from your experience greatly improves your odds at success.
9) Sometimes you’re the fish, sometimes you’re the worm.
10) If you tangle the line you can always re-measure and start again.
11) Learning from those that have come before you greatly decreases your learning curve.
12) Sometimes surviving is as much about a pan full of small guys as a trophy. They both fill your belly.
13) Beginners luck is one thing but catching enough to eat every day is the true sign of expertise.

Follow YE Business Coach Dan Nichols – @yecoach