I’m a competitive person.
I play to win no matter what the game is.
No matter if were playing a game of scrabble or a game of dodgeball; I play to win. And while its often a fault of mine because I’m not a fan of losing – its one thing I cant change. I love competition, I love competing and I love to win.
The one thing however about competition that I cannot stand is those who cheat.
Those who break the rules that games are ultimately found upon. I’m talking about the guy who slides a couple $500 bills under the board during monopoly.
When Cheating is Ok!?
While this mentality is applicable to games and sports; when it comes to business I say – Cheat, cheat and cheat some more. Break the rules that have been created by the old guys and write your own. Go against the norm and do something we’ve never seen before. Because in the rule breakers who find themselves being the most successful. The rule breakers are the guys who are worth talking about because they went against the norm and did something interesting.
Small Cheats are Great Feats
Today I came across a post from Luke Wroblewski discussing a unique registration form built by Jeremy Keith for his audio sharing site, Huffduffer. Take a look,
When we talk about cheating it doesn’t have to be something huge. Sure, Amazon cheated when they decided they would have free shipping. Sure, Starbucks cheated when they made coffee something classy. But cheating can be as small as this new design on Huffduffer.
According to Luke, this small cheat supports this claim,
Ron and his team ran some A/B testing online that compared a traditional Web form layout with a narrative “Mad Libs” format. In Vast.com’s testing, Mad Libs style forms increased conversion across the board by 25-40%.
Implementing small cheats throughout your business model will result in you becoming more comfortable with going against th enorm. It will ultimately allow you to look at business more like art rather than simply a way to make some cash. However, cheating usually helps you achieve your goals.
Remember the saying?
Cheaters never win and winners never cheat.
Dont.
Remember the Remix:
Cheaters always win and winners always cheat.