Oh, how the mighty has fallen! Lance Armstrong used to be described in several flattering ways. He used to be described as the cancer survivor who has beaten the odds and has actually succeeded after beating cancer. He used to be known as the seven-time Tour de France winner. He was the face of many world-renowned brands like Livestrong, Nike, Oakley, Honey Stringer, FRS and countless others. Now, he was dropped unceremoniously as the face of those brands. Due to these losses, he stands to lose millions in potential earnings. Not to mention, his known businesses and investments like Juan Pelota Café (a coffee shop) and Mellow Johnny’s (a bike shop) are also expected to take a hit.
Entrepreneurs Should Take Notice
As an athlete, Lance Armstrong is obviously affected. After all, he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. As far as him being an athlete is concerned, he has nothing. But then again, he can live without those titles. He’s set to lose more as a businessman because of his potential business and investment losses. This is why entrepreneurs should take notice. While most business owners can’t relate to him as an athlete, they can relate to him as a business owner, and they should learn from his humiliation.
What Entrepreneurs can Take Away from this Humiliation
There are actually several takeaways from this. Here are 10 lessons that you can learn from this scandal in order to avoid the same potential business and investment losses:
1. You can make irreparable mistakes.
Some entrepreneurs are too brash in thinking that they can easily fix all mistakes. Lance’s mistake is something that cannot be repaired. He doped and lied about it. Nike was straight to the point in their statement when they stated that Lance Armstrong “misled Nike for more than a decade”. Sure, Lance can probably get some small-term endorsements in the future. But that book on Nike has just closed. You can bet that it’s the same for his other endorsements.
2. Quit when you’re ahead.
There are times in business when it’s time to quit. You can’t be an entrepreneur for the rest of your life. You should move on to investing or at least do something else as an entrepreneur. Armstrong acknowledged that there wouldn’t be this issue if he didn’t come back in 2009. He retired last 2005 and if he stayed retired, we wouldn’t be talking about this scandal.
3. When it rains, it pours.
Lance’s blessings just came pouring in before the scandal. But when the scandal broke, the trials came pouring in as well. It’s the same thing with entrepreneurship. This is why you have to take advantage of your successes and make sure that you’re prepared for the trials because both successes and trials will come pouring in.
4. Your past mistakes may come to haunt you later on.
Lance was at the top of the world and he didn’t think that his world will come crashing down as he was doping. Years down the line, he’s now being humiliated for the mistakes that he did in the past.
This is why you have to be careful when committing mistakes. Let’s say that your supplier has been delivering more than what you’re paying for, and you committed the mistake of not telling your supplier about it. Months, even years from now, your supplier may just find out and he’ll pull out his supplies and you’re forced to accept a worse deal from another supplier. Worse, he may bring the matter to court.
5. Your friend may later on become your enemy.
While they weren’t exactly the best of friends, Lance Armstrong was on the same team as whistleblower Floyd Landis. With Landis’ confession, an investigation was done on Armstrong and this is when it was discovered that he was doping as well.
Sure, you’d have to trust a few people in business, but you have to be careful on who you can trust. Your employee today may be your competitor a few years from now. Your “partner in crime” in doing illegal business practices may serve as the primary witness against you. Of course, doing something illegal is NEVER good business practice, but it serves as the perfect analogy for what happened between Lance and Floyd.
6. Bad publicity can be just that – bad publicity.
There’s a saying that bad publicity is still publicity, and that it’s still good. While that may apply to show business, it doesn’t apply all the time to business in general. Sure, Lance Armstrong may be benefiting in a way from all these interviews right now, but he’ll soon find out that the bad publicity that he’s getting now will soon haunt him.
You can avoid this by making sure that you’re getting good publicity, and that you’re minimizing or totally eradicating bad publicity. This is especially true if you rely on your customers’ trust for your business, as you can lose their trust with the bad publicity.
7. You should learn how to be accountable for your mistakes.
Lance is getting a lot of heat now because of the fact that he never really apologized. Sure, he blamed himself, but he only blamed the fact that he was arrogant and was a bully. He even blamed cycling in general, saying that doping is a widespread practice.
A good entrepreneur will gain the trust of his or her employees more if he or she knows how to be accountable for the mistakes that he or she has done. On the other hand, an entrepreneur that blames other people for his or her mistakes won’t be an effective leader, and his or her employees won’t respect him or her.
8. You can build a brand on a lie.
As he lied and cheated in his career, his fans grew by the millions. People wore yellow bracelets because they believed in a lie that Lance Armstrong overcame cancer and succeeded because of his willpower, hard work and innate abilities. Armstrong was able to build a strong brand based on this lie, becoming one of the best ambassadors of sports and several industries with brands that he endorsed.
Sure, you can do what Armstrong did and build a brand on a lie. But again, all you need to do is to look at Armstrong and see where he is right now to see if it’s a good idea to do so.
9. Be nice to people, especially as they help you on your ascend.
You can’t succeed as an entrepreneur alone. You have to get help from people like your employees, suppliers, friends and customers. Be nice to them on your way up so when you encounter challenges as an entrepreneur, they’ll remember you as you encounter them again on your way down. Who knows? They may be the ones to help you go up again.
10. It’s hard to gain trust of people, and it’s even harder to regain it when you lose it.
Lance Armstrong strived hard to gain the trust of companies, colleagues, teammates and other people related to cycling. With their trust, he had a firm hold of the top. Now that he’s lost it, it will be pretty hard for him to regain their trust. Do you really think Nike will sign him up again as an endorser? It’s a good idea to bet on no.
Work hard in gaining the trust of people that can help your business succeed like your customers. Once you’ve gained their trust, make sure that you get a firm hold of it. Don’t do something stupid like shortchange them because once you lose their trust, it will be very hard to gain it again.
Be Happy that You’re Not Lance Armstrong
Breathe a sigh of relief that you’re not going through what Lance Armstrong is going through right now. However, it can easily be you, albeit in a different situation as an entrepreneur. Use these 10 things as lessons so that you won’t commit the same mistakes that he did.