Katniss Everdeen is in business—the business of staying alive. This is not an easy gig. You thought retaining clients or finding new customers was difficult, but at least it’s just your livelihood on the line instead of your life. Yet, being a small business owner can feel like a life or death situation at times. When sales are slow and clients are sparse, it can feel like you’ve been thrown in with the wolves with a flimsy marketing book as your only weapon for defense. And who knows better about fighting your way back out of these types of sticky situations than our latest post-apocalyptic hero Katniss? No matter how you slice it, the Girl on Fire has quite a few lesson she can teach us about staying alive in business when the going gets tough. Here are 7 killer business lessons you can sink your teeth into from the Hunger Games.

1. 7GAMES
VITAL BUSINESS
LESSONS from the
HUNGER
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

2. Katniss Everdeen is in business—the
business of staying alive
• Being a small business owner can feel
like a life or death situation at times
• When sales are slow & clients are
sparse, it can feel like you’ve been
thrown in with the wolves with a flimsy
marketing book as your only weapon
for defense
• Who knows better about fighting your
way back out of these types of sticky
situations than our latest postapocalyptic hero Katniss?
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

3. What can you learn from the
Hunger Games?
A lot, actually. The following are 7 killer
business lessons that you can discover
from the Girl on Fire…
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

4. Hunger Games Lesson #1:
Team Up With Your Competitors

5. Team Up
KATNISS
• In the dog-eat-dog arena
that Katniss gets flung into,
it would be understandable
for her to go it alone
• Who can trust the
competition when their sole
intention is to see you lying
dead in the water anyway?
• But what does she do? She
teams up with the other
competitors to stay alive
BIZ OWNER
• As a business owner, it’s
tempting to think that for
you to succeed, that your
competition has to fail, but
this is a false notion
• The most successful
business owners work
together--through joint
ventures, symbiotic content
promotion, affiliate
programs, etc--to stay alive
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

6. Hunger Games Lesson #2:
Constantly Be Cultivating Useful Skills

7. Useful Skills
KATNISS
• When Katniss first learned
how to hunt with a bow and
arrow, she didn’t foresee
that this skill would keep
her alive in the arena years
later, but there’s no doubt it
saved her life on multiple
occasions
• No skill is too minor that it
can’t pay off in a major way
down the road
BIZ OWNER
• If you wait to learn new
skills until the time you
need them, it’s too late
• You need to be constantly
cultivating useful skills on a
daily basis
• Seek out opportunities to
learn new things and make
an effort to broaden your
knowledge and capabilities
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

8. Hunger Games Lesson #3:
Get a Mentor

9. Get a Mentor
KATNISS
BIZ OWNER
• Chances are slim that Katniss
would have made it out of the
first movie alive if she didn’t
have a mentor
• Despite the fact that her
mentor was a raging alcoholic
(a quality that I wouldn’t
recommend for a good
mentor), the lessons and
teachings that he imparted to
her were invaluable
• You are too close to your
business to always see what
needs to be done to ensure
long-term success
• Getting an outside, impartial
perspective about your
business from a qualified
mentor is extremely beneficial
• Mentors can help fast-track
your business by saving you
from mistakes and providing
useful insight based on past
experiences
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

10. Hunger Games Lesson #4:
Know Your “Why”

11. Ask Why
KATNISS
BIZ OWNER
• Without a clear purpose, Katniss
wouldn’t have made it very far in
the arena
• Katniss’s “why” wasn’t just
staying alive, it was keeping her
loved-ones safe—that’s her sole
motivator from the get-go
• She originally volunteered for the
Games to save her sister, she put
her life on the line to help Peeta
and Gale & she complied with the
President’s wishes to protect her
family
• You always have to know your
“why” in order to make it
through tough times in your
business
• Without a purpose, chances
are you will quit before you
reach the light (i.e. money) at
the end of the tunnel
• Everyone’s “why” is going to
be different, but it’s critical
that you define yours.
• Why are YOU running your
business?
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

12. Hunger Games Lesson #5:
Learn As You Go

13. Learn as you go
KATNISS
BIZ OWNER
• For Katniss, each time she is
thrown into the arena, she has no
clue what to expect or what to do
• No amount of time spent
strategizing or training in advance
is going to help her negotiate all
the curve balls thrown at her
• She learns everything as she goes
along (and sometimes being
naïve is one of her biggest assets
because she can make decisions
without second-guessing herself)
• You have to jump in and start
playing the game now if you
want to end up victorious
• If you’re trying to learn
everything you need to know
before you start taking action,
you’re wasting valuable time
• Take the plunge, be willing to
make mistakes and learn as
you go
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

14. Hunger Games Lesson #6:
Win Today

15. Win Today
KATNISS
BIZ OWNER
• Katniss’s ability to live in the
moment is one of the major
keys to her survival
• She doesn’t get caught up in
worrying about the future—
her primary goal in the arena
is to stay alive today.
• In the end, when she focuses
on the doing the best she can
to survive each and every day,
then the future will take care
of itself
• Don’t spend time worrying
what slings and arrows the
future might bring
• You can’t reach your long-term
goals unless you successful
execute your series of shortterm goals starting now
• When you consistently focus
on winning today—doing your
best to accomplish what needs
to be done in the next 24
hours—then the future will
take care of itself
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

16. Hunger Games Lesson #7:
Play Your Game

17. Play Your Game
KATNISS
BIZ OWNER
• The people of Panem love Katniss
because she’s the heroic rebel
that doesn’t play by anyone else’s
rules
• Even though she can’t escape her
fate to participate in the Hunger
Games, she intentionally ignores
the Game’s guidelines while all
the other tributes stick to the
rulebook
• In turn, she beats the system,
becomes a celebrity of sorts and
most importantly, manages to
stay alive
• You have to play your own
game and make your own
rules in business
• If you follow the safe, worn
path that everyone else has
traveled down, there’s little
hope that your business will
stand out from the crowd and
become a giant success
• If there’s something unique
about yourself or your
business, don’t hide it—
highlight it
by Laurel Staples @ GoFireYourself.com

18. Connect with Laurel:
Laurel Staples is a marketing expert, writer, and podcaster. She
runs a popular blog & podcast called Go Fire Yourself that gives
you the insider secrets to successfully escape your day job, grow
your own business and live life on your terms.
Connect with Laurel and download her free ebook: INCOME
SWITCH: How to Replace Your 9-to-5 Income by Building a
Profitable (& Unstoppable) Online Platform by visiting her
website:
www.gofireyourself.com

19. Read the full article:
http://addicted2success.com/startups/7-vital-business-lessons-youcan-learn-from-the-hunger-games