“Spectacular achievement is always preceded by spectacular preparation” – Robert Schuller

Being the best never comes naturally. I know often it seems like people are plucked out of anonymity to become the Justin Beibers and the Lee DeWyzes of our lives, but the truth is that they were made successful because they had talent and they practice.

When they say on American Idol that so-and-so is just a waitress in a coffee shop, it doesn’t mean she’s not singing too. She works as a waitress in a coffee shop to pay for singing lessons, and agents to book gigs. The point is that these people have worked hard to be ready for the opportunity, so that when it is given to them they can perform surprisingly well.

Are you prepared for the day your big opportunity arrives?

A smart businessman will look at a product and immediately think about how he can make it better. He’ll ask himself, “How can I market this better, to more people, with more focus?”. He’ll survey the product and how it’s branded, then weigh in his mind the successes and errors of it’s branding. What has gotten it this far and what is holding it back from going further? In the end, the smart businessman won’t be able to do anything to better the product, service or item that he just contemplated. Instead he’ll take that knowledge to refine his own plan of action.

The amazing thing about branding is that it is all around us all the time. Doctors don’t live in hospitals and lawyers don’t live in courts.  But if you are an entrepreneur obsessed with branding yourself, you live 24/7 in a world of marketing. You have the opportunity to examine competitive branding at every moment, so you had better be taking advantage of it.

Daymond spoke at UrbanPhilly gathering recently. Here’s some footage from the event.