Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

Michael Simmons at Young Entrepreneurs makes an excellent case concerning what he calls the "glamour path."

He makes some great points that a lot of experienced entrepreneurs and managers still make a lot of mistakes with.

"Some of the disadvantages of taking the glamour path seem to be:

Increased Competition. With everybody going for the same goal, people are competing for limited resources. This pushes the margins down for everyone.

Shake Outs.The success ratio is low. In their hey days, there were over a hundred railroad, automobile, and airplane companies. Now there are only a few.

Certain Costs Go Up. There may be social pressure to live a high-cost lifestyle and/or the need to work in a metropolitan area, which has a high cost of living. Take education for example. The 'bottom' schools are cheap and fighting for applicants, even ones with great educational opportunities. The high-cost schools are extremely expensive and rejecting people with perfect test scores."

He ends his post with a couple of points that are extremely important and I agree wholeheartedly with:

"I'd rather find a high-potential niche that nobody knows about, live somewhere cheap, and focus on the customer. That's right. Take it from somebody who lives in New York City and is the founder of a media & education company with focuses on books, speaking, and a high-tech online community."

I would put it another way: Don't always try to hit home runs, but try for a bunch of singles. Don't always try to do the big thing, but a series of little things done well. That is one way that you can grow a great business and fly under the radar of well-financed competitors whose decisions a lot of times are based upon ego rather than customer service.