for small businesspeople? Let’s examine Floyd Landis, winner of the 2006 Tour de France.

The implications for growing your business? Well, none that have to do with his physical ability or chosen profession. There are lots of talented athletes from all manner of sports with no bearing here.

No, what makes Mr. Landis a topic of particular interest to us is simply that he embodies the kind of motivational and inspirational personal business philosopy that is not only important to winning worldwide sporting events, but just as key to evolving from an aspiring to a successful small business owner.

It is, thusly: “Never give up.” (Or, as I personally like to punctuate/capitalize for extra special emphasis: “Never. Give. Up.”)

Not sure if you know the backstory or not, but in a nutshell Landis went from leader of this massive 3 week bike race to an also ran in a single day. Although he was leading and dominating and pretty much favored to win, in one of the Tour’s hottest and toughest stages he simply couldn’t handle the pressure.

In other words, he fell apart. He had a major setback. Like the power in Queens, NY, or Albertson’s online delivery biz, he failed miserably. So everyone wrote him off. In fact, his performance was so bad, he said that he even wrote himself off for about an hour after his disastrous stage, too.

But then, something happened.

Landis decided that, as leader of Team Phonak, he had something to prove. Basically, that he deserved to be the leader and was going to show everyone why.

And show them he did, accomplishing a comeback of epic proportions that is already recognized as one of the most heroic, herculean and defining efforts of this 100+ years old international event.

Where’s that leave us? Right here at this Very Important Reality Check: Even when you try as hard as the next guy, you can still end up dead last. Customers will avoid. Profits will elude. Cash flow won’t.

And that periodic, foreboding sound you hear sneaking around your stoop is the sound of failure’s RSVP. An inviation to fail is often beckoning, always looming.

But resist the temptation to give up, call it a day, throw in the towel. (Sure, there’s always Mechanical Turk, but you and I both know that .50 cents per project ain’t gonna pay the bills.)

Indulge self-doubt if you must, but only briefly. Then, get back in the ring and show ‘em - and yourself - what you know you’re made of. Tell yourself that you’ll go down swinging and, like this year’s winner of the Tour de France, there’s a very good chance you won’t go down at all, but will instead find yourself in the leader’s jersey.

(Landis can keep yellow, though. Small business owners prefer green!)

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