This past week my daughter has not been well and as a consequence we’ve been spending a lot of time snuggled on the sofa with her favourite teddy watching Chicken Run.
If you’ve not seen Chicken Run – go and watch it, it’s great. It’s about some chickens on a chicken farm trying over and over again to escape so they can live a free life. Then Rocky the Rooster arrives and they try to learn to fly before realising that that’s not possible and coming up with a grand plan which actually works.
There’s a few things we can learn from Chicken Run:
1. If at first you don’t succeed try and try again.
How many crazy schemes did the chickens try before they finally achieved success? If something’s not working then maybe you need to try a different tactic working for the same purpose? Tweak, fix, change, re-do, try again. Don’t give up.
There are loads of people out there who are celebrating massive success who made lots of mistakes and tried and tried again to achieve what they have now. They’re all over the internet, willing to share their story with you so you can see how they got to where they are now. They didn’t give up and neither should you.
2. Liars always get found out.
Rocky the Rooster couldn’t fly – he pretended he could but he couldn’t keep it up and had to leave. Thankfully the chickens were able to take this setback and make the most fantastic comeback possible, but how much time did they waste going around in circles?
In your business it’s so much better to tell the truth. Don’t tell people lies about how great you, your product or service is. Once people find out the truth your reputation will be damaged and they will be unimpressed with the time and money they’ve wasted.
When I ask people to tell me what their values are so that I can work with those on their brand, I always say to work with what their values ARE, not with what they think they should be. It’s much easier to work with what you already believe than to try to pigeon hole your business into something you don’t 100% believe in. You don’t need to reinvent yourself, you just have to work out what’s really important to you and then work with that.
3. Grab opportunities.
Tweedys farm had always been an egg farm. Mrs Tweedy is pulled in with some clever marketing that speaks to her at just the right time and suddenly the interest shifts from eggs to pies.
Mrs Tweedy saw an opportunity to use resources that they already had to create success. There’s nothing stopping you changing direction in your business, or adding another element to it if an opportunity arises and it’s a good fit. As long as you don’t have a load of chickens ready to make your life difficult.
This is the process of the pie machine to make the chicken pies and includes dropping chickens and vegetables into the machine, adding gravy and pastry lids, baking the pies in a hot oven, popping them in boxes and adding stickers to the boxes.
In my business I have a 5 step design process.
Do you have a process for your business? It really helps you get clear on what you do and the steps you need to take, and helps your clients understand more of what you do.
5. Teamwork works.
The chickens were a team.
You can’t do EVERYTHING on your own. If you’re struggling then ask for help, find people with the skills you need. You don’t have to be on your own and you will probably find that you’ll achieve more if you get some help.
6. Head for your dreams
The chickens had this picture of paradise and they made it there. Do you have goals?
If the chickens can break out of the chicken farm and make it to where they wanted to be, then you can get from where you are now to where you want to be. You just need to know where that is, what you want and make a plan to get there.
There’s a few things you can do to help you focus on your goals. You can create a vision board by cutting and sticking on a sheet of card, collecting images on Pinterest, keep a journal. You can focus on how you want your life to be like and also the kind of business you’d like to have. Maybe you want to employ someone or write a book or be featured in a magazine or meet someone prominent.
This week I’d love to know what lesson you are going to take from Chicken Run to make a change in your business. Comment below and let me know:
