What do the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Chinese have in common? 

I recently went on a little trip to Athens to watch my beloved Villa play in the Euro Cup. This summer I’ve had the privilege of following them around Europe, sharing the highs and lows, the wins and losses. While in Greece, I spent a little time learning about the culture and history there. If you know me, you’ll know I’m actually a bit of a history buff. I love learning about the past, discovering how the world used to be and thinking about how history has impacted the world we live in today. 

Now, the Ancient Greeks are pretty famous for a lot of things… mathematics, philosophy, democracy… But did you know that they also played a part in the invention of football? The British are credited with the invention of the beautiful game back in the 1800s, but there were other similar ball games in existence well before that. 

“Episkyros”, which means “common ball”, was a game in Ancient Greece that sounds pretty familiar. Two teams, consisting of 12 to 14 players, would attempt to get the ball over the heads of the other players, whilst also trying to push them over the white line at the end of the pitch. 

In China, a game called “Cuju”, which translates as “kick ball”, was popular during the Han dynasty from 206 BC to 220AD. In this game, much like football, the idea was to kick the ball into a net, with using hands forbidden. 

This got me thinking… The Ancient Greeks and Chinese are famed for many things, but I bet you probably didn’t know about their role in the development of football? Why not? Because it’s not their “big” thing. It’s just something small they happened to do as well. And that’s a common problem I see in many businesses today too. 

You’re probably well known for your “big” thing too – but do your prospects and clients know about the other things you have to offer? For example, here at Millennium Cargo, you already know we do freight forwarding. That’s our “big” thing. But did you know that we offer warehousing too? Or freight insurance? Possibly not… And that’s on me. It’s my job as a business owner to make sure everyone knows all the things we have to offer. All the ways we can help you. And that’s your job too. 

So, when was the last time you told your prospects or clients about the other things you do? Drop them an email, give them a call, post about it on your social media… You never know what might happen.