Pat’s Three Laws of Business and Success: Law #3

every-action-opposite-react In order to understand fundamentally how the world works and how things move and interact with each other, you have to understand Physics. It’s the same thing for business – in order to understand it, you must break it down and try to figure out how each part interacts with each other. Luckily, there are laws for business like there are laws for Physics that can help us understand.

If you’ve been keeping up with my latest posts, I’ve been comparing Newton’s Laws of Motion to some things I’ve learned about doing business online. I’ve had a lot of fun with the first and second laws, and I’m excited to conclude with the third and final law today.

In the first two laws, I changed a word or two from Newton’s laws so they would relate to business, but in the third law I won’t change one word. The third law is one I’m sure you’ve heard before, and it’s something we should be reminded of each and every day while we run our businesses, write our blogs and articles, and in general – live our lives.

Law #3: For Every Action There is an Equal and Opposite Reaction

Short and sweet: whatever you put in is what your going to get out of it.

This is true in every respect, except when it comes to money. I listened to a quick interview of Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com over at TechCrunch today, and in it he specifically tells us to reassess whether or not we need venture capital to start a business.

For most of us online entrepreneurs, we’re not looking for venture capital (meaning millions of investment dollars) to start our online presence, however a lot of people think it does take a lot of money to get started. The truth is, you don’t need a thousand or even a hundred dollars. You can start your online business for virtually no money at all, and as you probably know, if you put more money you put into your business, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will get more in return. (I started my six-figure blog for about $95.00, which included the domain name and 1 year of hosting on bluehost.)

Money aside, the third law describes a very basic idea that you should always remember, especially when it comes to earning a passive income online. If you plan correctly, work hard and are patient, good things will happen and you will start to earn money. If you don’t take action and just sit and wait for something good to happen, I’m sorry – it won’t.

It’s important to think about this law when it comes to the planning and execution of the various tasks involved with your business, but also the relationships you have with your customers, readers, colleagues & friends online. It’s simple – if you’re nice, honest and respond to every customer or reader, you will gain people’s trust in return, which is worth everything. If you’re an a-hole, dishonest and unresponsive, good luck trying to gain people’s trust and get people to pay you for anything.

Lastly, I’d just like to step back for a moment and talk about something that I feel is more important than anything when it comes to entrepreneurship and how it relates to this law. It’s fear.

Fear is a disease. If you fear, you will be met with hurdles and obstacles that will stop you from reaching your goals. If you put away the fear, whatever it may really be, you will open up possibilities for success and fulfillment in your career and in your life. Remember, this is your life – the only one you’ll ever have. In my opinion, it’s better to say “hey, at least I gave it a shot” instead of just wondering what really could have been.

Thanks everyone for your support! If you’ve enjoyed my “Physics of Business” series and would like to stay updated with the new content I update on my blog, please click here to get the RSS feed!

Posted on : September 15th, 2009

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11 Comments (Click Here to Leave a Comment Below)

Reply Frank Schulte-Ladbeck on September 15th, 2009 at 3:53 am

I wanted to thank you for these posts, because they did resonate with me, maybe because I read physics books for fun. The message struck home, since I recently found myself in a situation where I was spreading myself too thin (with my work, but also with starting projects in my personal life). I realized that I have to look at all of the projects to limit them to find the best way to apply the force I have to make things happen they way that I wish them to occur.

Reply DDFD at Defensive-Entrepreneurship.com on September 15th, 2009 at 4:21 am

As I mentioned in one of my earlier comments in this series– people are lazy and addicted to instant gratification. It just won’t work for them . . .

Reply Mace on September 15th, 2009 at 7:27 am

Yep. Two words accurately describe 95% of would-be internet moguls: lazy and scared. Usually both. Good job describing this internet affliction in such a creative way. Thanks,

Reply Dustin on September 15th, 2009 at 7:30 am

I was looking forward to the final installment of this series, and I like the approach you have taken regarding the “equal and opposite reaction” Law. I totally agree with you that kindness, honesty and responsiveness are vital to building any business including a new website. I think that is one of your major strengths, and a big reason this blog and your other projects remain successful.

Dustin
EngagedMarriage.com

Reply Tyler on September 15th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Thanks for sharing these laws, Pat.

Reply Vincent on September 15th, 2009 at 9:44 am

Hey Pat,

The starting part is always the most difficult. Once we can push through the starting part, the rest will take care of itself.

Cheers,
Vincent

Reply chris on September 15th, 2009 at 10:35 am

this hits the nail on the head. i think i have a really good idea that i could make money off, but its either fear or laziness thats keeping me from doing it. i have to get on it

Reply Maren Kate on September 16th, 2009 at 12:05 am

Its so funny how much the idea of “laziness and fear” come into play when entrepreneurs look at what holds them and others back. It really must be a combination of both, so to be very successful (especially online) you have to have strong reserves of both of the opposites: driven and fearless… Probably these are the two biggest qualities any entrepreneur can have and combined no matter how often you fail you are bound and determined by the simple laws of physics to hit a home run. Just hope its sooner than later!

Reply Pat on September 16th, 2009 at 1:31 am

Thanks everyone for your comments. I think Maren is absolutely right about laziness and fear and how it’s a part of the mind for most entrepreneurs – and it’s the successful ones that overcome it.

I’ll definitely be talking more about getting started and overcoming fear. For me, I was kind of FORCED to get it done, because of my lay off. It’s instiling this same sort of “need” to do it that’s the trick.

Cheers everyone!

Reply Vance on September 19th, 2009 at 6:30 am

My issue has never been with planning. I tend to procrastinate getting to work on the planned activities. They seem so daunting. I end up breaking each task down into real easy micro tasks. As i complete each micro task I get more momentum and actually start getting things done. It works for me.

Reply karim on September 23rd, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Very thoughtfull post on overcoming fear .It should be very much helpfull.

Thanks,
Karim – Creating Power