What bloggers and webmasters can learn from China’s gold harvest in the Olympics.

The Fuwa, the 5 mascots for the Beijing Olympics, were true harbingers of luck.  After the finally tally, China has an unprecedented 51 gold medals.  It’s still a long way to the record set by the United States in 1984 with 83 golds but luck was not the sole basis for the Chinese athletes’ impressive performance. As this Yahoo sports article says, China will repeat its gold harvest in succeeding Olympics and with 1.3 billion people for a talent pool, that target may not be that far off in the future.

Age, human rights,  and political issues aside, how can bloggers and webmasters copy that success in web development and entrepreneurial endeavors? Here are the 5 Fuwas of web development and entrepreneurship:

1. Look for and target unsaturated niches. China went for and trained their athletes in sports where there’s no strong competition. A gold in hammer throw is worth the same as one in basketball.
2. Identify our skills and strengths and use them in suitable niches. China looks for athletic kids and assign them to sports according to their body types.
3. Diversify—don’t put all our eggs in one basket. China doesn’t give much emphasis on team sports, preferring to let individual star athletes go for multiple golds instead of keeping them all in a team and fight for one gold.
4. Plan and work hard. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the venue for the 2008 Summer Olympics to China in 2001. Even before that, they were already planning how to do it, setting aside resources, and training their athletes.
5. Do it first for fun or love and last for money. Chinese athletes don’t compete for personal glory or monetary compensation, they compete for the state and the Chinese people. Earning some money for their efforts is simply a bonus.

Like China, the least we can bank on for success is luck as the Fuwa are only mascots.

Hey, check out these fun facts about the medals from the latest Olympics.