八大成功习惯：像成功人士一样思考

The conventional wisdom—find a niche; zig when others zag—is right, but not particularly helpful. It lacks, to be kind, specificity. Far better is to describe what the best entrepreneurs do and that is “compete differently.”
像找到一个利基和随大流等传统经验固然没错，但并不特别有用。至少可以说，它缺少针对性。不如说，最优秀的企业家们所做的是“以不同的方式竞争。”

How do they do it? Here are some examples:
他们是如何做到的？以下有几个例子：

–Make small bets. Your resources are limited and starting anything new is risky. You don’t want to compound those risks by betting everything on one role of the dice.
——小试一把。你的资源有限，任何新尝试都要冒风险。你不希望孤注一掷而让风险大增。

–Make those small bets quickly. No, you don’t want to lose money. But, since you are not risking much, you can afford to fail. Get out in the marketplace fast and let potential customers tell you if you are onto something. Action trumps everything—especially planning.
——迅速押注。不，你不想赔钱。但既然押上的不多，你经受得起失败。迅速进出市场，让潜在的客户告诉你是否该做下去。行动胜过一切——尤其是规划。

–Where do you place those small bets? (I) Obviously, in areas where competitors don’t exist, or are weak. Not so obviously, in places where you feel strong. That confidence will help you overcome the inevitable hurdles you will face.
——押注哪个领域？(I)显然是那些没有竞争者，或者竞争力较弱的领域。此外，还应押注你感觉自己实力强大的领域，这也许没那么明显。这种自信会帮助你克服你将面对的不可避免的障碍。

–Where do you place those small bets? (II) No customer wants to be entirely dependent on just one supplier, no matter who it is. Ask yourself, what your competitor’s customers want. Better yet, ask those customers yourself.
——押注哪个领域？(II)没有哪一位顾客会完全依赖于一家供应商，无论是哪家供应商。问问自己，你的竞争对手的客户想要什么。然而更好的是，亲自去问问那些客户。

–Let the market define you. People will tell you what they like, and what they don’t, about your product. Incorporate their ideas with yours. Making the world’s best videocassette recorder does you no good, if what people really want are DVRs.
——让市场来定义你。人们会对你的产品给出反馈意见，告诉你他们喜欢什么和不喜欢什么。把他们的想法和你的结合起来。如果消费者其实需要DVR，那么生产世界上最棒的录影机对你毫无益处。

–One step at a time. Be satisfied with making one significant improvement in a product or service. You’re bound to make mistakes just attempting one thing—many more if you try to do too much.
——一步一个脚印。满足于在一件产品或者服务上实现的明显改善。在只尝试一件事的时候，你还未免会犯错误——如果你尝试得太多，所犯的错误也会更多。

–Keep looking for places…where you have a genuine competitive edge. That’s where profitability and security lie. Tempting as it may be, don’t try to buy your way into markets where you offer the same product at a lower price. That’s where you’ll be vulnerable.
——不断摸索……你在哪里才有真正的竞争优势。那才是可以赚钱的稳固领域。尽管看起来可能很诱惑，但是不要试图以削减利润空间的低价策略占领市场。在这种情况下你很容易受到攻击。