“Revenue Science™” and Blackjack have a lot in common and some of the same lessons serve both very well.
Here are 5 Blackjack lessons I learned from hundreds of thousands of hands in the casino and on the computer, that serve the “Revenue Science™” professional well.
- Know why you are there and what you want to do
In business and at the table, too often we just sit down and decide to play. Maybe we decided years ago to start our own business or months ago about that trip to Vegas.
In business, some want a lifestyle business, some want to be the next Apple and some have a purpose to make a difference with educational software or a medical devise. Those with a purpose will make more money, attract staff, partners, and customers to support that same purpose.
In Blackjack, you may be there to spend the evening or the weekend or the week to enjoy the challenge, get free hotel rooms and food while leaving with more cash than you started with. You may be there because you believe you are a whale and are willing to put very large amounts of money on the table with no plan to leave with any amount under 7 digits. You may be there to get free drinks and burn through the $1000 you brought, while pretending to be a big shot.
With no reason to sit down supported by a disciplined plan, the casino will always celebrate.
- Survive until you thrive
Blackjack and business both run in cycles. For business the economy gets good, goes bad. The competition and technology are always changing and often the goal is surviving until the time is right to grow and create wealth.
For the Blackjack player, managing the money available to bet during good runs of cards and backing off the bets to conserve cash in bad runs, allows survival until the time is BEST (never a sure thing) to place the biggest bets possible on high probability cards when on a streak.
In both cases survive to thrive.
- Don’t play with idiots (no chaos)
Playing Blackjack at a table of idiots is like working with and trying to do business with idiots. Playing or working with idiots is NEVER a good idea.
You may claim that idiots at a Blackjack table don’t really hurt the non-idiots at the table. However, they create so much chaos that focus, concentration and discipline, are broken, which means you are not at your best.
Idiots in business are much worse. They also break your focus, concentration, and discipline, in additional to painting your brand as an idiot brand, chasing your customers away, driving out current talented staff, and making sure no good staff will work for you.
Don’t play with or work with idiots.
- Winning is about knowledge and discipline
In the movies, the person playing Blackjack is drinking and makes wild bets because they feel it. There are similar stories in business where a wildcatter follows their gut to rule the industry.
“Revenue Science™” and the mathematics of Blackjack will tell us stick to knowledge and have the discipline to NOT listen to your gut, which is not doing mathematics or statistics to know when to place a big bet or step back to conserve cash.
To grow your business cash “Revenue Science™” makes next steps predictable. Have the knowledge and live the disciple to move forward when winning is the most likely outcome. Not when too many cocktails lowered your inhibitions.
- Be willing to change tables
“Revenue Science™” teaches us that everything is changing. Customers have different needs and value different things for reasons we may not see. Continuously improving, requires the willingness to change. Add new offers and drop old activities to always serve what customers want, not what we think they should want.
That learning transfers to Blackjack. Leave a losing table and find a table with NO idiots or play by yourself. Be willing to change until you find a table and dealer where you and the dealer are helping each other out (for whatever reason). There is not a mathematical reason I know of to do this, but it feels so much better and not staying in a bad place is good for the cash.
“Revenue Science™” and Blackjack are both about understanding the environment you are in, diagnosing options, having a plan based on probability (math or “Revenue Science™”) and the discipline to execute.
Learn from both, enjoy both and make a living with Revenue Science™” in Business.
Upcoming Revenue Science™ Certification Classes:
Coming in the Fall of 2017