About a year ago, I did an informal survey on a business networking site and asked the question – “What do you know now that you wish you’d known then?” There were the normal responses having to do with organizational issues, work/life balance, time management and capital issues. However, I was surprised to find the overwhelming number of responses that were related to “head” issues – confidence, focus, overcoming fear, and staying positive.

It makes me think of the old cartoons where the character would have a little devil on one shoulder telling him to do the bad thing and a little angel on the other shoulder urging him to do what’s right. Some days I feel like I have little distracting gremlins on my shoulder pulling me away from what I need to be doing. They’re especially persuasive every time I get ready to do something new or approach a new client prospect. Do you ever hear them too? They try to put thoughts in our head of how we’re too short. Or too tall. Or too old. Or too young. Or lacking the proper credentials. Or in over our heads. And on and on and on.

Ever heard the saying “You’re your own worst enemy”? Too often we are the architects of our own downfall. There is an old text that talks about taking our thoughts captive and renewing our mind. That’s a smart thing to do when you’re in business. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of messages every day giving us reasons why we’re “less than” the other guy but when those messages start to creep in, you need to take them captive. Filter through them. Sometimes they may, indeed, point out some area you need to improve upon. However, most of the time they’re just trash talk.

One of the best ways I’ve found to keep them in check is to renew my mind. I do that through a healthy dose of motivation. I read a lot of books, but lately I’ve been downloading mp3 books and rather than frittering away time just listening to the radio, I use my driving time for input from folks like the late Jim Rohn (my all time favorite) or Larry Winget (love his point blank style) or John Maxwell or the great Les Brown. There are plenty of them out there, but these are some of my favorites.

You’re not alone when those thoughts start rolling through your brain; it’s something we all have to deal with as was evidenced by feedback from small business people across the country. Just because they’re there, you don’t have to believe what they’re telling you. Take control of your thoughts and don’t let them steal your promise.

• Malaise
• Cash
• Addressing Risk
• Uncertainty
• Customer Acquisition and Retention
• Focus
• Economic Perception
• Getting up in the morning

I certainly don’t want to downplay the viewpoints of these successful and talented individuals. However, it seems to me that these issues are challenges every day in every economy for every small business person. There are always challenges to starting and operating a small business as with most worthwhile things in life. Despite the claims of some charletans, there are no magic bullets. Small business success is ALWAYS going to involve keeping an eye on the above list of issues.

I guess the core of what I’m trying to say is, don’t let the naysayers keep you from trying. There are always obstacles mixed in with the opportunities. Obstacles can be overcome.

Best wishes and happy entrepreneuring!

I was on Facebook the other day with a friend from High School and she was telling me some exciting news about an article that had been written about her for a local business journal. Turns out, she has turned into an ace inventor.

Here in Oklahoma, we have very interesting weather – tornadoes, ice storms, hail storms, you name it, we’ve probably got it. My friend was living in an apartment complex where they didn’t offer covered parking. One year we had a significant amount of hail storms and she was bound and determined to not let her car get all dinged up. She came up with a solution that worked and then the light bulb came on. She began creating prototypes from her jury rigged solution and is now creating a catalog, seeking investors and taking it to market. She’s also come up with ideas for companion products during the process.

Frustration to solution to business owner.

I remember seeing a story about a gal who was frustrated by trying to get the dust ruffle back onto her king sized bed after cleaning it. She struggled to lift the mattress and slide the ruffle back into place. She got the kids involved and the ensuing story reminded me of a Three Stooges routine. She thought to herself, “There’s got to be a better way” and proceeded to create the Zip-a-ruffle that’s now sold on QVC.

Someone had to think up and create the Snuggie® and as silly as it may seem to some of us, it’s a million dollar product and there are a lot of folks that are a whole lot warmer for it.

Back to the original question – Are you frustrated about something? Instead of just being frustrated and going on, stop and take another look and see if you’re missing a solution. Chances are, if you’re frustrated, millions of other people are, too.

I received an email the other day from someone I didn’t know very well so I set out to get to know a little more about them. This person went from telling me about a marathon trip they’d just finished where they were looking at antique guitars and scoping out some business opportunities. Well, of course, that piqued my interest! When I asked about what type of business opportunities, it was like I’d flipped a switch. What started out as a pleasant conversation turned to a rant on how we’re headed to Hades in a hand basket and how we’re headed to a devastating global depression of apocalyptic levels. Trade all your money for gold and start excavating for a bunker in the back yard as soon as possible.

Wow.

I politely stated my opinion in return and quickly ended the conversation because it was apparent that they were just getting started and determined to “enlighten” me to their truth whereas I’m perfectly happy to agree to disagree.

I’m no Polly Anna. I know the statistics – high unemployment, record foreclosures continue, gas prices continue to climb, depressed wages, consumers struggling with high debt, and it goes on and on. However, I also see opportunity all around us.

Is the world changing? Yes. It changes all the time. Is our US economy changing? Absolutely. Again, it changes all the time. We seem to forget our history so easily. Things change; our economy is cyclical. It goes up and it goes down. Change can be scary for a lot of people. I find it exciting, but I can totally understand that most folks don’t.

Maybe it’s because I grew up “without”. I’ve lived the hard life and made it through just fine. I’ve been broke, so broke doesn’t scare me so much. I’ve lived in the muck and I know that when you’re there, down deep and up to your eyeballs in troubles, it’s hard to see anything but. And when you’re focused on the muck, hope seems far away. I want to encourage you to look up and see the stars. Even astronomers sometimes need a telescope, and even in the most difficult of times, there are opportunities.

Take a look around, change your focus…see that little twinkle?

He has also been the recipient of a lot of good intentions. Teachers and other leaders in his life that try to suggest what they think he might be good at. That’s not typically my methodology. As we’ve talked, I’ve mostly tried to listen but there is one key point I’ve tried to drive home – Quit thinking in terms of a “job,” but think about something that you love to do and see if there is a way to make it valuable in the marketplace.

Creating value around something you love will make your “work” day feel more like a play day. Every day.

We seem to have forgotten that the economy has been bad before and we’ve survived. There has been an ebb and flow to the cycles of business for as long as there has been exchange of goods in the marketplace. It goes up and it goes down. Around and around. Season after season.

We seem to have forgotten that in the scope of history, it wasn’t that long ago that people left their home country to reach a new world of opportunity. They blazed trails into the wilderness. Instead of focusing on how bad it was or how there wasn’t a governmental agency out there prepared to underwrite their endeavors and make everything OK, or extended unemployment benefits, they pulled up their boots, focused on the positive and the possibilities and got to work. They made a way when there seemed like there was no way.

We seem to have forgotten that it was only about 100 years ago that the majority of the population was self employed. They didn’t wait for someone else to assign their value to a salary and a desk; they looked for the needs in the marketplace and came up with creative ways to fill them.

I think it’s pretty obvious that “things” will never go back to where they were 5 years ago. But rather than let the newspapers and pundits write your story for you, take control of your life and write your own story. Don’t you think you’d do a better job than some corporate CEO whose focus is his own company’s bottom line?

Once upon a time, there was you. Where are you going from here?

Lose 100 lbs in four months.

Make a million dollars in a week.

You get the idea.

Is it possible? Sure.

If you’ve ever watched The Biggest Loser you’ve seen people lose 100 lbs in four months.

But they have put their entire lives on hold to focus on that one area of their lives.

I personally know folks that have made a million dollars in a week.

But they didn’t start out making that kind of money. Nope, most took about 10 years to grow to that point.

Is going big the only way to go? I don’t think so.

I think that too often we get it in our heads that unless we’re able to “Go Big” we shouldn’t even try. Or we try to “Go Big” and get overwhelmed.

Why can’t we just “Go?”

I’m of the opinion that any progress is good. Sometimes it’s small steps but at least we’re moving forward. Actually, I believe that compounded small steps add up to BIG change. Not only big change, but LASTING change.

You might not lose 100 lbs in 4 months, but you might lose 20 lbs in those 4 months just by eating a few less bites and moving a few minutes more each day.

You might not make 1 million dollars in a week, but by focusing on your business consistently and making small steps of progress, you might make an additional $10,000 this year.

I don’t know about you, but 20 lbs less and $10,000 more is better than finding myself in the exact same place in a year. Or even worse, 20 lbs heavier and $10,000 more in debt because I tried to make some huge effort and failed…and gave up.

So, as you look to 2010 and start picturing what you want to accomplish I encourage you to DREAM BIG, but break it down into small, realistic steps.

Just go.

“Ignorance or Apathy? I don’t know and I don’t care.” ~ Jimmy Buffett

What’s the more difficult position – not knowing or not caring? When starting a business I’ve often found myself in the position of not knowing something. No matter how smart I might think I am, I have found that I can’t know everything so I often have to go searching for information to fill the gap. But what happens when we know what we need to do but we just can’t muster the motivation to do it? Apathy, procrastination, doldrums, rut, unmotivated – no matter what you call it, it can be a problem that is difficult to overcome. We’re going to look at some ways to overcome both.

Being called ignorant is perceived as a real put down and is often used to describe people who are bound by their prejudices rather than simply without facts. Ignorance is defined as lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact. We can’t know everything so we’re bound to be ignorant of something at some time. There is more access to more information today than there has ever been in history. Not only do we know more, but the access is incredible.

In the not so distant past, only the very wealthy and primarily men, had access to books and the abundance of knowledge that was available at that time. The internet has made it possible to gain more information than you ever thought possible in a matter of moments. We can find out just about anything we want 24/7 with the click of a button – ignorance overcome.

But what do we do when we know what we should be doing but just don’t do it? Sheesh! That’s a whole lot of doing!

This weekend I was working at a client event and early Saturday morning I was playing taxi to the airport so that our Continuing Education speaker could catch his flight. During the hour long trip we started talking about his business. He’s a good speaker with a very relevant message but he’s struggling to get his bookings at the level that he’d like to have them. On the flip side, there are other speakers who aren’t as good at the on-stage delivery but they are consistently getting booked. Not only booked, but booked at rates that are almost double.

What’s the difference? Or, as I put it in one of my favorite questions to others when facing a problem – Why do you think that is? His response was: I know what I need to do, I just don’t do it.

Do you ever feel that way? I know I do.

Apathy is more difficult to overcome than ignorance because we can’t just click a button to feel motivated to do whatever task is preventing us from moving forward. I don’t think it’s that we don’t care, we just don’t care enough. In other words, the consequences of our inaction aren’t painful enough to spark us to action or the promise of the payoff for completion isn’t relevant enough to lure us forward.

So, how do we overcome the problem?

There’s not a quick fix and certainly not a one size fits all solution, but these are a few methods that have been of help to me.

Break it down. Sometimes when I have a particularly daunting task, I look at the whole and just really don’t feel like tackling it. It helps me to break it down into smaller tasks. I’m not a big to-do list person on a daily basis except when it comes to planning large events for clients; then I live by my lists. If I look at the event as a whole, it can be overwhelming. But when I start breaking the event down into all the little things that need to be done, I’m faced with bite sized pieces which are much easier to, umm, digest. I know it can be just as overwhelming to look at a 5 page list of to-do’s but when you wade into the smaller bits, you can spend 30 minutes working on the project and mark off 10 items. Before you know it, you’ve whittled down a daunting list into a sea of checkmarks. I love that sense of accomplishment.

Relieve the stress. I find it easier to seek diversions when I’m feeling particularly stressed. I often feel stressed when I’ve had my head to into a project for too long. Sometimes I just need to walk away and change focus. It may help to go for a walk or spend 30 minutes playing with the dog. I’ll go throw a load of clothes in the washer, anything to reorient my brain for a few minutes.

Change up your routine. Occasionally I’m just lonely. Going from working in an office with dozens and dozens of other people to working at home alone can make it easy to be diverted by the TV or playing around on the web. When I sense that creeping in, I make a point to set up some lunch dates with friends. That brief interchange with others helps me come back feeling refreshed and ready to tackle things anew.

Schedule play time. Take a break. Schedule some slacker time into your schedule. You’re more likely to keep plowing through when you can look at the clock and see that it’s only 30 more minutes until you have your “legal” half hour of play time to surf the web, play a game or watch TV.

Create accountability. Even when you’re the boss, you may need to be accountable to someone. Now wait a minute, I’m not saying you need to go out and find a j-o-b again; there are other ways to be accountable. Find a group of like-minded folks to hang out with. In Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill talks about the concept of a Master Mind Alliance or I’ve more often seen them called a Master Mind Group. Each group is unique in that it is made of up unique individuals and the agenda belongs to the group but the general focus is on brainstorming, feedback, being a sounding board, accountability and working together to attain new heights.

Outsource/Delegate. In the case of the underbooked speaker, when we got down to it, he was having a problem following through when it came to keeping in front of existing and potential clients so that he was in the forefront of the event planner’s minds when they were deciding on speakers for their events. He was honest and said that just wasn’t something he enjoyed. We all have things that we really don’t enjoy doing but some things are harder to handle than others. If you have something specific that is holding you back, and it happens repeatedly, perhaps you need to hire someone else to do that for you. If you can’t afford to add to your staff, you may be best served by outsourcing that part of your business. Often other service professionals are willing to barter services in lieu of money.

I’ve saved for last; the two things that I feel are the greatest antidotes to apathy.

Get a vision/Renew your vision. Do you know where you’re going? If not, spend some time thinking about where you’re headed and find a way to keep that vision in front of you. I have my “dream board” in pictures and my personal mission statement plastered all over one wall in my office so that I see it every single day. If you know where you’re heading, remind yourself. Put up some pictures or quotes or statements that you will see every day to help motivate you to keep moving toward that dream.

Set goals/Refresh your goals. Do you have goals? I think that goals are one of the most important tools for anyone, business person or worker bee. Goals will help drive you forward. Goals should be set in increments instead of having one end goal in mind. The great thing about goals is that you can set those increments where ever they work best for you. I work with 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, 5 year and 10 year goals and revisit my goals every quarter to see if they need tweaking or realigning based on where I’m headed. Goals aren’t ever to be set in stone, just as we evolve, our goals should evolve with us.

Whether you find yourself faced with ignorance or apathy, don’t despair, both can be overcome. Information cures ignorance and information is readily available with the click of a mouse button, just be smart about it and double check the facts so that you make sure what you’ve found is really the information you need. However, apathy may be more difficult to overcome. It’s certainly not insurmountable, but there are several methods you can use to help keep you motivated. Try a few on for size and see which works best for you.

Happy entrepreneuring!

Katherine

© Yanwe

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Happy Entrepreneuring!!

Katherine

For the most part, the input was excellent. But there was one response that surprised me.

“If at first you don’t succeed, quit.”

I know, right? I mean, I had to read it a couple of times to make sure I read it right.

Perhaps he was just being facetious. Perhaps not.

As entrepreneurs…or really even as human beings…we’re going to come up against obstacles. We can either use the obstacle as a convenient reason to quit. Or we can see them for what obstacles really are – opportunities.

Opportunities for growth.

Not all obstacles can be overcome, but they still provide room for growth. Just as a poker player analyzes the table to decide whether they should stay the course, raise the stakes or fold, we need to analyze what lies in our path instead of reacting by immediately throwing in the towel.