I've been in business for seven years and was in the Army for 15. During my time as an infantry drill sergeant, the No. 1 rule that you teach your soldiers in urban combat is something called "violence of action." This rule also applies to success in business as well.
Urban combat training is one of the most brutal and dangerous types of combat training, but there are a few techniques that go beyond tactics that will not just help you survive, but thrive. One of them is "violence of action," and this is how we describe it:
1. Be Unseen and Quick Until You're Engaged.
Army: The best attack is the one you never see coming. Don't give your position or assets away.
Business: You have other individuals and companies that are much bigger and experienced, and have much deeper pockets. Don't draw attention to yourself until you're ready to start collecting paying customers.
2. Once Engaged, Be Loud, Be Scary and Be Big.
Army: The enemy has now been alerted to your presence. Make them think of recalculating their position, because your presence is much larger than what first appeared.
Business: Once you have a product ready for market, don't waste time trying to build momentum slowly. Get it everywhere, all the time, right now. If you're slower to market, plenty of other people and companies would love to make money with your idea by using their experience and deeper pockets.
3. Close the Distance with Your Objective Quickly.
Army: When you are forced into hand-to-hand combat, get to them as fast as possible; use that momentum and your strength to close the distance. This gives you control and focus.
Business: Focus on the near-term goal or objective. This can be a sales goal, a specific number of new customers, products sold or web traffic. Focus on the one goal today that will get you closer to where you need to be and do it now.
4. Dominate Your Objective Quickly.
Army: Once you've closed the distance, dominate your enemy quickly. We can use our sidearms or rifles in hand-to-hand combat, because they work quickly.
Business: Your objective should be to be No. 1 in your market. If you're small, you can still be at the top. When I started Grunt Style, being the No. 1 patriotic lifestyle brand in the world was a hard goal to fathom. But I started with being the No. 1 vendor at Fort Benning, Georgia, and after a few months, we owned that title. We picked bigger targets, closed the distance and dominated them, one after another.
5. Secure the Objective.
Army: Don't pay for ground twice. If you fought to gain ground, secure it so you don't have to fight for it again.
Business: Once you become No. 1 in a market, don't give up the ground when you move on to another marketplace or product. You worked hard to acquire a customer; don't mess up the order and then have to apologize, give coupons and beg them to try you again. Deliver the first time and every time.
6. Move Off the Objective Quickly.
Army: Once you've secured the area, move quickly to the next objective; otherwise, you become a very fast target. You were loud, big and scary; now, the enemy knows they've been dominated. If the enemy has any friends, they know exactly where you are, so you must continue the mission with the next objective.
Business: Once you've dominated a field, market or product, move on to your next objective quickly. It's very easy to become cocky and comfortable. It will make a great story for someone else when they dominate you. Stay humble, stay focused and move on to the next objective.
To be clear, it is my business experience that select others will throw arrows at your back and attack you, but this is not the norm. Though they try to offend and attack you, they are not your opponents.
Do not lose focus. The time that you are distracted by them is more costly to you than whatever slurs or rumors they may be throwing around. Your only competition in business is yourself.
You are a seedling next to a river. The size of the tree you become depends very little on the trees around it. Don't worry about anyone else except for the nutrition and health of your business.
Be faster. Be better. Be more financially strong.
Daniel Alarik is the founder and CEO of Grunt Style and Alpha Outpost. He currently employs more than 200 people at both companies. He is passionate about business, fitness, veteran causes, America and entrepreneurship. He currently speaks around the United States on business and entrepreneurship.
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