As today is Saint Patrick’s Day, a familiar phrase comes to mind: “The Luck of the Irish”. This holiday in particular exemplifies that phrase. Saint Patrick’s Day is one of the biggest drinking holidays around the world. It is a particularly profitable time for those businesses that choose to sell or make Irish products. According to Asbury Park Press over 4.6 billion dollars will be spent today. A fair amount of that being spent at Irish Pubs to purchase Guinness (13 million pints are expected to be sold) and cabbage (shipments increase by 70% every year in the week leading up to St Patty’s Day). Over half of Americans (52.3%) plan to participate in some way, spending an average of $36.50. What an incredibly fortunate day to be in the Irish business! If only all the rest of us could benefit from the luck of the Irish.

Unfortunately, not everyone does get their own holiday, but there’s still a lesson to be learned here. Saint Patrick’s Day is only such a big holiday because those who have a stake in its success put a lot of effort into advertising and growing it. It started as just a feast to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland and now it’s grown into a world-wide celebration of all things Irish. Are you willing to put that kind of effort into growing and promoting your business? Sure, you may not reach a global scale and you may not want to have a holiday based on drinking associated with your business, but find an aspect of your business that you truly find exceptional and share that with anyone and everyone who will listen. Maybe you provide outstanding customer service, maybe it’s the quality of your product, maybe you pride yourself on always being up-to-date on the most recent technology. Maybe it is, in fact, that you are Irish. Whatever it is that helps you stand out from the crowd, share it. And keep sharing it until you have your own holiday!