Keys To Success: Passion

Throughout my business experience I have found that passion is a key ingredient to small business success.  After all, if you don’t have passion about your product, service, company, and most importantly, yourself, it makes it that much harder to achieve personal and small business success.

In my personal business coaching practice I have observed that the clients who have the most passion also have the greatest degree of success.

Keys To Success:  Passion About Yourself

You have probably heard that true success is an “inside” job.  To succeed you must have passion about:

1. “Who” you are.
2. “What” you do.
3. “How” you do it.
4. “Why” you do it.

Lack of excitement in any of these areas will hold you back much more than you may realize. The most important area to be passionate about is YOU.  If you feel stuck or overwhelmed look at yourself and find something to change that will make you more excited about you.

After all, in business and life, we, so to speak, leak who we are.  What are you leaking about you?  How do you think?  How do you speak?  How do you dress?  Do you act with respect, kindness and consideration?

The answers to these questions and your passion about them are important keys to success.

Passion Is Your Value Proposition

In answering Who you are, What you do, How you do it and Why you do it you are establishing your value proposition to prospects, customers and client.  Too often this is forgotten.

I have collaborated with self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs and solo professionals who had the best technology and efficient systems but who fell short of where they wanted to be.

Once they understood that small business growth was not just about a great product or service and its delivery, but the passion with which it was delivered, their businesses and lives started to move forward and up.

Passion:  Look At Your Priorities

In running a small business or starting your own business I see self-employed business owners with passion but lacking clear priorities.  This is a recipe for disaster.

Be a person with passion but also priorities.  Without the right priorities and taking action on them personal and small business success is more likely to elude you.  Make sure that your daily priorities are in alignment with where you want to take your business and life.

With your priorities in alignment your passion will grow and help take you to the personal and small business success you desire.  Your success will be in your passion.

Belief Determines Your Present And Future

I once had a client who had very little belief in himself.  He was running a small business that was passed down to him by his father.  He was bright but he had never developed his talent.  His lack of belief in himself was hurting his company, employees and worst of all his family life.

Your beliefs control everything that you do.  They will determine your personal and small business success and growth.

Belief—It Holds You Back

As a personal development coach I have observed in myself and others that what our belief is in ourselves will determine what we expect and what we will receive.  My client did not believe in himself.

Why?  There were many reasons.  The most important one was he was running the business the way his Dad had run it.  He was afraid to put his personal touch on things.  After all, things had worked well or maybe not so well for a long time so why change?

His belief in his lack of ability to make positive change was holding him back.

Belief—It Moves Your Forward

We started identifying small, safe areas where he could institute change.  Most important it was change he believed in.

When you start exercising your “belief muscle” it is best to start with some small things where you can have some immediate success.  Too often I see well intentioned, self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs and solo professionals exercise their “belief muscle” on too big a stage.

Why?  They feel that is some shape or form that they need to make the grand impression.  Remember, an impression can work both ways.  You can take your belief and impress it on others but if you haven’t thought it through it can come back at you in the form of a negative impression.

The key is to start with something small.  Enjoy the small successes from your beliefs. Learn from them.  Once you have mastered the small things then you can work up to some bigger areas.

Whether you are running a small business or starting up your own business begin with the small things and work up to the bigger ones.  This will increase your odds of staying on a success track.

Belief—It Predicts Your Future

More often than not in personal business coaching I am collaborating with others on creating a vision of the future they desire.  Once we have created the vision we start taking steps to make it happen.  It’s a very exciting process.  And, it is all fueled by belief.

Your belief in yourself, what you do and where you want to go is usually a very good predictor of the future you will have.  How come it is a good predictor of your future?  Your belief determines your expectation.

And you have a belief and an expectation you are much more likely to see it become a reality.  Whether you are starting your own business or running a small business identify your beliefs.  Understand your expectations.

If they aren’t leading you to the future you desire, change them.  Change your belief on something.  It will change your expectation.  And, your expectation will change your life.  Today you can start to have the future you want tomorrow.   Start today by harnessing the power of your belief.

Keys To Success: Preparation For Tomorrow Begins Today

Preparation and success go hand in hand.  Rudy Guiliani, the mayor of New York City when 9/11 occurred had this to say:  “Your success will be determined by your ability to prepare.”

Here you are as possibly a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional or an individual seeking greater personal growth and success.  What do you do?

Preparation and Success

There are no overnight successes.  There is a great deal of preparation that leads to success.  Then when the situation presents itself you increase your odds of leading it successfully.  You may get recognition, like Guiliani, overnight, but his success and the leadership he displayed were years in the making.

Hopefully, you will never have a September 11 type situation in your life where there is no plan in place.  When you are a leader you must take action and rely on whatever preparation has taken place.

In the instance of 9/11 there were emergency drills that the fire and police departments followed.  This helped greatly during the crisis.   Preparation was key in addressing the crisis and having a pointed and effective response.

Preparation:  It’s Not In What You Do

When people look at preparation they think of rehearsing procedures, learning new skills, experimenting with potential improvements.  All of these are part of preparation.  But, even more important in preparation is what you believe.

If you believe that your preparation is good then when the time arrives you will use it.  If you don’t believe in how you are preparing then you will respond with some other plan.  Very often this is where bad things happen.

How often have you seen a situation where the commentary was, “If they had only followed procedures…….”  Yes, the preparation was there but the leaders and people didn’t believe in it. And the results were worse because of it.

Yes, you must believe in how you are preparing.

Preparation Changes Your Attitude

As a business coach, one of the things that I emphasize to my clients it that if you believe your success tomorrow depends on what you do today, then you will treat today differently.  When you treat today differently by embracing personal development and personal growth for tomorrow, the results in your business and life are going to be different.

With an attitude of preparation for something better you understand that what you receive tomorrow depends on what you believe today.  Believe in preparation.

If you are preparing for today, the chances are, you won’t be repairing tomorrow.  Preparation is the foundation for growth in your business and life.

When looking at the keys to success, always remember much of success is about continuous preparation.

Keys To Success: Courageous Leadership

Courageous Leadership: Become The Big Egg

The content for today’s post on courageous leadership comes from John Maxwell and his book, Talent Is Never Enough.  Mr. Maxwell is considered one of the foremost leadership experts in the world.

As a self-employed business owner and entrepreneur he understands the challenges of not only starting up your own business but in running a small business.  And, he also understands that courageous leadership can take your small business and move it to a higher level.

Courageous Leadership:  Making Difficult Small Decisions

He starts out, “When I began my leadership career, I was very ineffective as a leader.  I believed I had talent.  But when I got out into the real world, I fell far short of my expectations.  How did I turn things around?  By making small decisions that were difficult.

With each one, I gained more confidence and more courage, and I began to change.”

Courageous Leadership:  It Takes Time

He goes on to say, “The process took me four years.  At the end of that time, I had learned many valuable lessons, and I wrote the following to help me cement what I had learned.”

He lists ten points as to what courageous leadership means.  As a personal business coach and an individual who believes in personal development I could readily identify with these points from my own personal experience and that of my clients.

Courageous Leadership:  The Ten Points-Quoted Directly From John Maxwell

1. Convictions that are stronger than my fears.
2. Vision that is clearer than my doubts.
3. Spiritual sensitivity that is louder than popular opinion.
4. Self-esteem that is deeper than self-protection.
5. Appreciation for discipline that is greater than my desire for leisure.
6. Dissatisfaction that is more forceful than the status quo.
7. Poise that is more unshakeable than panic.
8. Risk taking that is stronger than safety seeking.
9. Right actions that are more robust than rationalization.
10. A desire to see potential reached more than to see people appeased.

He concludes by saying the following:  “You don’t have to be great to become a person of courage.  You just need to want to reach your potential and to be willing to trade what seems good in the moment for what’s best for your potential.  That’s something you can do regardless of your level of natural talent.”

He leaves us with this final thought on courageous leadership.  “Make a small decision today that will increase your confidence and leadership courage.”  That’s the start to courageous leadership.

Keys To Success: Vision

In my business coaching practice I always encourage my clients to use praise.  Regardless of whether you are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional or individual all of us like to receive praise.

Praise Must Be Genuine

 

There is a phrase, talk is cheap.  If praise is not genuine then talk can be expensive.  If you are looking for a quick way to fracture your team, damage friendships or alienate employees give acknowledgement that is not genuine.

People will pick up on the dishonesty and when they do they will distance themselves from you.  Over time they may become less productive and less loyal.  This can lead to increased expense and more turnover which can be very expensive.

Talk, when the praise is not genuine, can be very expensive.

Praise Must Be Heartfelt

 

You can genuinely praise someone and that is great.  Almost everyone loves recognition for their attributes, behavior or a job well done.

But, if the praise is not given from the heart it reflects badly back on the person who is giving it.  When it is given reluctantly or without enthusiasm it diminishes the person who gives it as well as the person who receives it.

Also when given without enthusiasm or back handedly it shows a very negative side to the person who is giving it.

Whether you are starting your own business or running a small business the proper use of praise is a wonderful way to build a team and loyalty.  Be sure it is genuine and heartfelt.

Praise Must Be Merited

 

There is nothing worse than to receive praise and to know it is being done for show and that in truth, there is very little, if any thing, very positive to merit the praise.

Yes, praise must be deserved.  Whether this is an individual situation or a small business the recognition that comes from praise must be deserved.  When praise is given and it is not deserved it will reflect badly on you and your organization.

Why?  It shows a lack of integrity.  It was not honest.

As you go through life use praise.  But when you do remember that it must be genuine, heartfelt and merited.  Praise is a great way to lift you and others up.

And, in the end, what you send out comes back.

Send out praise.