Why be in business?
What’s the point of being in business? Make money? Prove oneself? Be less stressed? A better lifestyle? Not work for a boss anymore? (Work for a madman instead!). Are you in business because you think that you can do it better?
Amazingly, many of the 1000′s of business owners I’ve asked over the years were not really clear why they went in to business in the first place or are so caught up in the day to day busy-ness of their business they have forgotten why t
hey are in business.
Sadly, many business owners have found that they are not making enough money, don’t have the lifestyle they want and have huge amounts of stress in their lives. Even sadder is the fact that many small business owners can see no real solutions for their circumstances.
The fact is that there are answers to every question a business owner has. Indeed I remember only one time in 20 years of consulting that we were not able to walk in to a business and find an answer or a new way of doing things that had a positive effect.
So why be in business?
My answer is simple… “To create the cashflow you need to live the lifestyle you want.” You simply need to decide what your desired lifestyle is. When you’ve done that create a plan to achieve it… And then there are no excuses (no valid ones anyway) for not going and creating it.
A few hints…
- Everything you need to know or understand is written in a book or is on the web. (If you can’t find it contact me)
- Someone else has already successfully done what you are about to do
- The only difference between you and some other successful person is how you use your mind
- You bring about what you think about, what you speak about, what you focus on, what you have feelings about
- Fear, in any of it’s many forms, is normal when change occurs
- Everyone feels fear, especially when they are changing and growing out of their past comfort zone. It’s pushing through the fear that is the difference between success and mediocrity.
Remember, business is about achieving lifestyle for yourself. Many business owners have businesses that generate money for their lifestyle without them having to be there , and You CAN too. Begin you search and education and don’t stop until you’ve achieved it. Believe me, the journey’s worth it!
Your Anti-Values are at work too!
Everything that we do in life is driven by our personal values. What most people don’t understand is that we have both positive values and negative values or anti-values. For example most people would say that personal integrity or honesty is a genuine driver in their lives and so would set goals and attempt to achieve those goals with integrity and honesty. What few people realize is that they hold negative or anti-values too. Anti-values are often things that many people avoid or move away from – avoiding conflict, rejection or being isolated from others.
If you are a small business owner, take note – if you have any ONE of these anti-values you will find yourself avoiding those tasks that hold these anti-values for you – such as selling, marketing or working as an isolated business owner! Even if you set income or sales goals for your business unless you clean up your anti-values you will subconsciously sabotage yourself to your values and find ways of avoiding conflict, rejection or isolation.
All desire for success is related to our values. Our values are the foundation for our passion, our energy.
So for each of us our “worthy” ideal is founded in our values. If our goals are not aligned with our ideals, which are based on our values, then we will be repeatedly drawn away from any and every goal that we set, no matter how good or how great those goals may be.
Nelson Mandela’s worthy ideal
Here’s Nelson Mandela describing his worthy ideal:
“I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to achieve. But my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Nelson Mandela: From his speech at his trial in Pretoria, 20 April 1964, which he then quoted on his release in Cape Town, 11 February 1990
What’s your worthy ideal?
Scarcity or Abundance? What will you choose…?
Abundance Thinking
Recently whilst helping some clients I was reminded of the importance of having “abundance thinking” and the horribly debilitating effect of having any kind of of it’s opposite- scarcity thinking.
Sadly the vast majority of humans actually live in scarcity, created by their past scarcity thinking… And perhaps our ancestry of “survival of the fittest.” A much smaller percentage of humans find a way to live in abundance thinking
Scarcity Thinking…
What is scarcity thinking… and what are some examples of what it creates?
Scarcity thinking arises from a place of fear and is associated with very specific beliefs as follows. When you are in the place of fear or scarcity, to validate yourself you must now hold the belief that you must compete for the limited resources in your environment. You believe that your external environment survival relies on your ability to compete…
Since you now compete, you’re now in a scarcity self-fulfilling doom cycle and increase your circle of scarcity energy and fear further by increasing your concern worrying now that others may compete back or retaliate in some way including attacking you…
And now your really off and running in scarcity… Your looking for multiple opportunities to increase your scarcity protection (therby further increasing competition) and start judging the actions of others from your increasingly competitive viewpoint reading all of their actions as potential , imminent or actual attack… Which is what you now constantly think about… And then create the reality in your life!
Of course at any given point in time (like right now), one of your now multiple competitors in the form of other humans, time, wellness, money, spiritual, career, businesses, even inanimate object, etc “attacks” you – and wins! You lose your job or your job stinks, you lose a client, you have time stolen from you or it works against you, you bang you your head, leg, etc on something and get angry at it, your body lets you down and you become unwell, etc.
Now your scarcity thinking, the scarcity energy you’ve allowed, turns internal and you compete with yourself. You start to feel the fear energy of abandonment - “I’m not good enough…”, “I can’t make it work”, “I’m not old/young enough…”, “I’m not liked/appreciated/acknowledged”… You’re actually talking to yourself, about somehow seperate parts of yourself, negatively judging one or more parts of who your are! Enough of that kind of self-talk leads to just one place – despair or “the place without any hope”… And off you go creating your reality piece by piece, thought by thought, self-talk conversation by self-talk conversation.
Abundance Thinking…
On the other hand abundance thinking and energy works from the place of love and is it too is associated with a very specific set of flow on beliefs – and outcomes.
Consider this – some parents have their first child and love the child fully. Then they have another – and love that child fully too. Do they love either of the children less becuase another was born? Of course the answer is no. And so it is with all other abundance thinking. No loving parent would even begin to consider that there is a competition for their love by their children. It dosn’t even enter their thinking. Could you think about your money that way?
Abundance thinking creates…
Creates abundance, wealth, health, respect, wellbeing, wholeness in others. It builds trust as opposed to competition and makes others feel safe as opposed to the “in danger” feeling that scarcity creates. Abundance thinking allows that others can make mistakes… That they can be forgiven for mistakes, we can forgive them for their mistakes… And so that when we make the mistake, we will forgive ourselves and be forgiven by others too.
In growing families, association, businesses and communities of any kind the ability to for-give is what makes risk taking and creative growth possible. And don’t you just love the word in english, for – give. It indicates a form of investment right? Giving before the event. Wouldn’t you love to have everyone in all your circles of association investingly for-give abundance energy to you? I know I would love that. I do love that…
It is my blessing to know at least some of that.
Abundance Thinking- getting in to action…
My suggestion for getting your abundance thinking going…
- For-give yourself… And find ways to learn to love and accept yourself…
- For-give everyone in your various communities career, local community, spiritual, sport, business until you can feel that you hold no competitive or “in danger or retaliatory” energy. I ‘ve found that this needs to be practiced regularly – part of my morning meditations
- “Feel out” important situations in your life, re-imagine them if you like, as if you had all the abundance in the world. Then ask,”how would I act in this situation…”
- Look in the mirror of your life… Eveything in my life and your life is a reflection of what’s going on inside you, your thinking. So review your whole life situation – your car, your house, your relationships, your bank balance, your love life, get really honest with it all and ask “Is it really meeting what I believe I am capable of?”
In those areas where it’s not identify where you have been using scarcity thinking versus abundance thinking. - Schedule time out each month and year to ask the same questions again.
Well that about it from me… But I would love to know your thoughts on this… And your strategies for identifyng scarcity thinking and turning it into abundance thinking.
How to Increase You Bottom Line by 30%-200%
We guarantee to increase your bottom line with one-on-one and small group business executive and business owner coaching and training. Our clients typically turnover between $2+ million with a goal to increase turnover 30%-200+% over the next 12-24 months.
We talk to everyone who is interested in transforming their businesses to identify the situation and options. We then carefully qualify all businesses to ensure they can do the necessary work and over the last 20 years have helped some larger and many smaller companies achieve great results.
