Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.

                                                       -Winston Churchill

So many of us are afraid of failure. We're so terrified of making a mistake or falling short that we often will never even make an attempt at the goal. Yesterday I ran in the California International Marathon for the second year. Last year I set a goal of finishing the entire race and I trained for months preparing for it. A month before the race I injured my ankle. I tried to rehab it and train through it, but when race day came I had to pull out at mile 20.  

At first I viewed that race as a failure because I didn't complete it. It was only afterwards that I realized that the 4 months of training was a success in and of itself. If I had been so afraid of failing due to the injury that I didn't even run the race, that would've been the true failure. I had set a training goal and I accomplished it. This year I ran the final 6.2 miles that I didn't get to do the prior year and it felt great. I didn't have the time to train for the full, but I accomplished my training goal again and crossed the finish line.

Slidebelts is in a marathon right now. I know it feels like we are sprinting during this holiday season, but I promise you we are involved in a long race and every day we are accomplishing our goal of training for the peaks that we will ascend in the future. Don't ever be so afraid of a goal that you don't even try to take the first step.

As always, when I'm looking for Loop inspiration, my reserve of saved Seth Godin blog posts usually do the trick. In a recent post, he talks about the importance of price when it comes to commodities - we always consider price when we're buying something, but we'll never purchase something solely because of what it costs.

That means that there are two options. You can either go with Option A, where you flatly set the price for the given commodity, and that's the end of it. You're selling X item for Y price and that's it. As Seth says, "you're a commodity provider by choice, which is fine as long as you're okay with competing in a race to the bottom."

On the other hand, Option B is the tedious, difficult and occasionally risky work of earning your praise, attention and reputation by becoming more invested through storytelling. With Option B, you're moving out of the simple "commodity" space by bridging the gap between product and connection. In doing so, the product and brand earns its own space, which is defined by meaning, possibility and attachment. 

As a company, we've done this really well - much better than the brands with tacky infomercials or impersonal advertising or terrible customer service. It's why so many people are self-proclaimed lifelong SlideBelts wearers. And the best part is, those people who feel a personal connection to our brand become the best advocates we could ever ask for.

We price our products higher than most ratchet belt brands because of our patented ratchet design and our superior materials, but also because we know we have a story to tell and a unique connection to bridge with our consumers. We don't want to compete with the $20 ratchet brands of the world, because we are creating our own brand in our own space on our own level. Which means those other brands in a race for the bottom have no choice but to get on our level. *Mic Drop*

Happy Friday Crusader!

It has been a very busy week for everyone. Your sincere efforts and hard work are highly appreciated not overlooked. You should be proud of yourselves. To be a successful business, we need to connect, collaborate and delegate. Our team does just that. The strength of SlideBelts is the TEAM of people who make it happen. Keep up the good work! There is still much work ahead of us. I am very confident that we will take on the challenge and get'er done. Below are some of my favorite quotes on teamwork. Do you have a favorite quote about teamwork? Share with me and I will pass along a Kudos card.

Update on SlideBelts Movember team. The Mo Bros raised a total of $480. SlideBelts matched that amount making the total donation to the Movember Foundation $960. Thank you to everyone who participated.