As a business coach and mentor over the past 15 years, I have seen many business owners get caught in the cycle of overworking, in their pursuit of a great idea matched with guts, hard work and determination. But often the result is simply under- earning, even as they stop along the way to chase “gurus” believing that they will show them the way and things will finally click.
Looking outside for a “cure all” or a “quick fix” only leads to continued frustration for business owners because without looking inward at the things that stand in the way of success, the same situations show up repeatedly. The key to success for each of us lies within ourselves.
If you are committed to building a great business and bringing the key elements of success to the surface, you need to adapt these 15 strategies into your business and personal life.
1. Realize It’s All About You
Your business is a reflection of you. It is a container for our own rich spirits, talents, gifts and energy. It also contains your issues, blocks and attitudes. What we experience in our Write for us Business is a mirrored image of the values, beliefs and images we hold within. In this way your business is all about you and can only get as big as you are, no more and no less. You may want to blame the economy, lack of money, busy-ness…yet to grow your business you must be willing to work both on the inner game (seeing yourself clearly and clearing beliefs that keep you stuck ) as well as, the outer game of action and technical know-how (knowing what to do and doing it). Once we recognize that the difficulties and limitations in our business (and our lives) are reflections of our own patterns, we have a powerful tool to change patterns and to create what we truly want.
2. Grow Yourself
A client once said, “Having a business is the best personal development course you’ll ever take.” This is very true. If you want to grow your business, all the marketing systems, secrets and strategies in the world won’t help you unless you first grow yourself. For example, if you have a belief that you have to work 16-hour days in order to be successful, then you will end up working 16-hour days. And you may or may not be successful. If your leadership style is disrespectful of team members and customers then the energy of the business will reflect this. Only second-rate team members will be attracted as you will only attract people who are OK being disrespected and not appreciated. Your business will only achieve a fraction of what is possible. Your style and level of development sets the tone for your entire organization. Everything is reflected back to you multiplied, exaggerated and often dramatized. This means, if you want your business to change, if you want your team to change, if you want your results to change… It all starts with you. Many people work on growing the business, their teams, and sales, yet leave out the most important factor in the entire equation -you.
3. Get Out of Your Own Way
One of the biggest obstacles most of us have is that we get in our own way. It is as if we are driving down the road to success with one foot on the gas and the other one on the brake. We don’t do it on purpose or get up in the morning and say, “How can I sabotage my success today?”
It looks different for each of us, even from day to day. Sometimes it may be just being too busy to do the things we know we need to do. It could also be fear. This, too, could show up in many ways.
We may be afraid we are not good enough, so we procrastinate or become overwhelmed at the thought of doing the task. A personal favorite of mine was the fear of being wrong, so I played it safe and limited myself to things I already knew I could do well.
Clutter is another way we slow ourselves down. Besides the physical difficulty it causes, clutter can also weigh us down subconsciously. Marie, a small businesswoman, was pitching clients to increase business. But no one was signing on with her. After a brief discussion it was obvious that she was exasperated; I could feel this in just a short phone conversation. When I asked Marie to describe her office, she told me about the piles of files on her desk, projects on the credenza and other items on the floor, plus the spillover into her personal space. The piles represented unfinished business; work that she knew she needed to do but could not get around to doing.