This article is an excerpt from my new book, publishing February 2012: One Simple Thing That Changes Everything. You can get a sneak peek and have access to the companion workbook with my all-new One Simple Thing Growth Kit. Enjoy!
I am often asked, “What is the real secret of success?” And in my opinion are there any shortcuts to achieving success in business. The greatest secret to being highly successful in business, whether you are a professional service provider, entrepreneur, Realtor, or a chiropractor, I told them, is that there are no secrets.
You have to follow your heart and do what you know is right for you. There are as many ways to define success as there are people in business and what works for one person is not guaranteed to work for another.
There are two important things that can guarantee success in business, and keep in mind that most people ignore this advice. The first is to “dream big daring dreams,” and the other is to “do what you love.”
Too many times I meet people who are bored to tears, miserable, dissatisfied, frustrated or angry that the business they have isn’t the way that they want it to be. Yet they stick it out year after year.
Why?
Is it fear of failure? Lack of energy? Lack of get-up-and-go?
Surely it can’t be because they are afraid of potential joy, contentment, personal satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment.
Changing direction isn’t the same thing as giving up or failure; rather, it is an acknowledgment that what you’ve been doing up to now isn’t giving you what you want or need in business. Just because you begin your business one way doesn’t mean you can’t change and do something else when you discover what your true passion is.
Entrepreneurs think success only has to do with money. Yet, you can have all the money in the world and still be unhappy within your business relationships because of some underlying issues around your mindset that you have yet to transform.
What entrepreneurs don’t realize about shifting your mindset is that first you must be allowing and committed in seeing a shift in your mindset. Then, for a true shift in mindset to occur, you must allow empathy to come flooding into your mind and your business.
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Hi Big Thinker!
Are There Real Secrets to Success?
One of the most common questions I’m asked around growing a business is what it the real secret to success in business? People are always surprised at my answer. The answer is true whether the business or economy is doing really well (how did my colleague make six figures last year when I only made five?), really poorly (where can I direct my business that’s safe?), or in between (is it time to get back in the game yet?).
As you can see from these typical questions, the tendency of most entrepreneurs is to be really confident ( in some cases greedy) when their business is doing well ( invest in themselves when business is going well), get out and make fear based decisions (panic) when the business and the economy isn’t doing so well ( stop investing in themselves or their business when business or the economy is slower), and then wait, and even become paralyzed by fear and worry for the business or economy to recover before getting back in (invest in themselves and their business when the economy is booming again).
As a result, the average entrepreneur earned less last year even though some entrepreneurs earned more, made more of a difference, doing what they love last year in their business. You can see for yourself how the impacts of fearful thinking and limiting beliefs have played out in your business. (Keep in mind that around half of entrepreneurs have been earning less than that but don’t worry, I’m sure everyone reading this is above average.)
Think the problem is just with limiting beliefs and fear? Think again. Some of the thing to overcome in business is fear of failure, lack of energy, lack of get-up-and-go, and believing that success only has to do with money.
So what can you do in to avoid this fate? You can find lots of answers from mindset and marketing “gurus” on blogs, newsletters, programs, and your brother-in-law who made some money in business once. But if you’re looking for the “secrets” to success here they are, and I share with you my answers to real success.
Here’s to BIG dreams!
Learn about the One Simple Thing that changes everything and my all-new, it’s your sneak peek to my new book, publishing February 2012:
