When you hear the word business empire, which images come immediately to your mind?
I’ll try a guess: Logos and names of multinational companies like Microsoft, Apple, McDonalds, Burger King, L’Oreal, Levi Strauss, Nike, E-bay, or IKEA. Am I right?
What do all these companies have in common? They are all empires. But they share something else too: their success. These companies are in the market for decades. No crisis can harm them, they grow and grow and their brand recognition as well. Where does this success come from?
First of all the empire owners think big. For them everything is possible. Steve Jobs makes the electronic toys thinner and thinner and cooler and cooler. McDonalds has every year a burger that is even crispier and healthier than the former ones, and IKEA conquers more and more markets. No limits. Everything is possible, if you think big.
Secondly, the empire owners know how to market their empires. Their brands are recognized by literally everyone, from school kids to seniors, from nannies to the pope. Why? Because the empire owners communicate very clearly what their brand stands for. E-bay does it: “Buy it. Sell it. Love it!” and L’Oreal as well: “Because I’m worth it!” Even Barack Obama has a brand statement: “Yes, we can!”. It is one powerful main message that sticks to our brain.
So, a powerful brand statement and “think big” are success factors of those empires.
Our understanding of an empire is usually connected with these enormous companies that spread their arms all around the globe. Diving down to the basic meaning of the term empire opens a totally new perspective. If you check your dictionary you may find the following definition: an empire is “an extensive sphere of activities controlled by one person”.
Let’s think this a bit further. Each of us controls the scope of our own activities and competences, isn’t it? The scope of competences is according to the definition our empire. In this sense, each of us owns an empire.
My congratulations! You have just been promoted to the position of all the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in this world! You are an empire owner! How does that feel? Feels great, doesn’t it? Now let me ask you, how will this promotion change your life? You are representing an empire now, for sure you are thinking already about the marketing plan and your expansion! 🙂
No kidding: What will be your brand statement? Barack Obama’s brand statement is: “Yes, we can!”. Will yours be: “The IT support with wireless energy!”, or “The marketing expert, who makes growth happen!”? Or will it be: “The researcher, who guarantees your company the next five patent families.”? What will be your one powerful main message?
And how far will you go, if you think big? Will you finally accept the job offer and work for a year in Spain? Will you after all apply for the management position in your company? Or will you in the end start the post-graduation that you were thinking about for the last 3 years? Think about it. Think big!
If we are talking about business empires or about the ME-empire, the rules for success are the same. If you market yourself well and accept that everything is possible you can open doors to the universe. Be as bold as Steve Jobs and say: I want to leave a mark in the universe.
