I like music and I love to sing. That is why the American Idol becomes one of the shows that I enthusiastically follow on the television. American Idol is a reality TV singing competition created by Sim Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment. It was first aired on Fox on June 11, 2002 and became one of the most popular shows in the history of American television. The show is considered as the most watched TV series and the only program to have been number one for eight consecutive seasons as of 2011 according to Nielsen ratings. Now on its eleventh season, the show premiered on Fox on January 18, 2012. It airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8:00 PM EST. American Idol is hosted by Ryan Seacrest, with Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez as the three judges. The show is fun, though it has some drama. There are contestants who fail and there are also who made it to the next round. But no matter what the competition shows, everyone learns a golden lesson. Even the business owners and entrepreneurs can learn from them. The following are 5 business lessons we can learn from the American Idol reality TV show.
1. You’ve got to made the best first impression
Whether you believe that first impression lasts or not, you’ve got to give your best at your first performance. American Idol contestants start from auditioning with other thousands of hopeful candidates to get the yellow ticket to Hollywood. There, it’s either you give your best to impress the judges and let you move to the next round or give a poor performance that will cause your American Idol journey to end early. Just like business owners and entrepreneurs, we also start in a journey from bottom to top. In the beginning, we face a lot of competitors that can overthrow us outside the tough business competition. Thus, you’ve got to give your best shot to continue in your journey to bigger opportunities. If you will perform poorly in your first attempt you’ll never move to the next round. This is also similar in the business world. Businesses should be planned strategically. Your products should be produced in the quality that will wow your customers when they first see what you offer to them in the market.
2. You need to be consistent
After you have survived the initial stage, there is no reason to reduce your intensity for the next challenges. Just like the American Idol hopefuls, they moved to a tougher competition where they will be competing with the best contestants that made it in the regional auditions. Those who want to succeed should be consistent with their performance. And that’s not all that, they also need to increase their intensity to overcome the competition that is going harder and harder. Thus, you don’t just need to give your best shot in the first show, but you need to give your best shot in all succeeding shows, and even make them better. To make it possible, you should not stop practicing with your coach or mentors. Businessmen and entrepreneurs should not stop from learning new things and discovering more opportunities. Remember that there is a competition that is tougher in the next round. And if you don’t have the ability to improve and become tougher, you will be eaten alive by the competition. Hence, in this world were innovation is a must, business owners should always constantly provide the best solutions to consumers.
3. Learn teamwork and blend with your partners
In the next rounds of the American Idol competition, contestants are grouped together to have their winning performance. Unfortunately, there are good contestants that are eliminated because of the poor performance of their groups. Although they seem to not have choice in picking who will be their team members, they should have trained well together and come up with the winning piece. Here, leadership and teamwork are very important. Those that have successfully united and harmonized their voices and performances are the only ones that make it to the next round. When it comes to business, every entrepreneur should also learn how to lead their people and build up a winning team. Even if you’re good, if your team will not cooperate, the result could become a failure not only for you, but for everyone. Every business is an organization. No matter how small your business or company is, it still can’t run without the help from other people. Even if you don’t have employees, you may still need to outsource services from other people. Your business partners, suppliers, and even the computer machine you are using are all part of your team. Thus, you’ve got to bring them all to unity and harmony to work as one and perform a winning piece.
4. Be confident at all times
Worries have no rooms in any competition. Confidence is a vital element that every American Idol contestants must have from the beginning till the end of the contest. Any doubt on their talents can become a factor that will negatively affect their performance. The nervous contestants who were defeated by the pressure that are around them have experienced bad performance. Some have forgotten their lyrics and others sung out of tone. Eventually, only the confident candidates made it to the finals. Confidence is also one of the important qualities of a successful businessman, entrepreneur, marketer, manager or a leader. Business has inherent risks that owners should consistently find ways to reduce them. They should become positive and confident to achieve success just like the American Idol finalists. Furthermore, confidence is achieved through planning, testing, training and reevaluating.
5. Be humble
In the finals of the American Idol, winners are voted through text or online votes. This means that the masses have the voice on who will be voted out or who will remain. Here, aside from the pure talent of the contestants, attitude and charisma also become factors that could give them the title. Those who become overconfident and become boastful are sometimes voted out by the viewers. Perhaps, the audience doesn’t just like their attitude. Moreover, the American Idol winner should also become a good model not only of music talent but also of good personal characters. Thus, the contestant that captures people’s heart is usually voted in. We can also say that humility and charisma are also essential in business, especially for business owners that are already experiencing success. They should stay humble and reachable by their customers, employees, and the masses.
I hope you learn some good lessons from the American Idol. Always remember that our journey to successful business and whole life is a continuing process. We should not stop learning and improving because the future is going to be tougher and tougher. But always be confident because even our challenges become harder and harder, the circumstances make us better and better.
Image by Michael Tanne at Flickr.
Victorino Q. Abrugar is a marketing strategist and business consultant from Tacloban City, Philippines. Vic has been in the online marketing industry for more than 7 years, practicing problogging, web development, content marketing, SEO, social media marketing, and consulting.
Very good article. Every person must give their very best shot whatever they do!
Thanks and welcome to or blog Nix!