3 Things Vegas Reminded Me About Business

I recently had the pleasure of being invited to speak in none other than Vegas (baby – sorry – can’t help myself with that!) While there good old Vegas reminded me of a few things about business that had almost slipped my mind.

1. Nothing lasts forever



Since the last time we’d been to Vegas the classic Stardust hotel and casino (home of the eternal Wayne Newton for so many years) was gone, as was the old Aladdin, and the new Aladdin (transforming into Planet Hollywood).

This time while in Vegas at 2.30am in the morning (after a quick powernap) we got to watch what was truly an awesome site. Another Vegas icon – the Frontier got imploded to the ground to make way for yet another “bigger / better” in Vegas.

The Frontier was originally opened October 30, 1942 and was only the second to open on the strip. It also housed Elvis’ first show on the Strip in ’52 and now it is no longer.

In Vegas you can do the Eiffel tower (half size), the New York skyline and the canals of Venice in a day, but don’t expect them to be here forever.

In the same way, we can expect to constantly see changes on the business landscape. Say the word Google or Yahoo in the 80’s and you would have received a polite “pardon me?”.

2. You’ve got to know when to hold em



Kenny never spoke truer words than “You’ve got know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and know when to run”. And despite the fact that the song is called “The Gambler” it could have just as easily been called “The Entrepreneur”.

Steve Jobs knew to hold on to Pixar when it was going through troubling times. Bill Gates knew when to fold first company Traf-O-Data. Tyra Banks knew when to walk away from her music career (and back into the arms of her loving television audiences). Warren Buffet knew to run in the opposite direction of tech stocks missing out entirely on the tech crash.

3. If you build it, (and have faith in it) they will come



Celine and Caesars Palace “built it”, it being a $95 million purpose build Colosseum and didn’t let poor early reviews stop her mammoth 5 year stay. Over 3 million fans have seen the show with revenues in excess of $400 million.

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