Some people think that the reason they can’t get their business off the ground is because they don’t have the right tools, knowledge, experience or business plans.
Sure, all of those things are important.
But if you don’t have the right mindset, then all the best tools, resources and money in the world don’t mean a darn thing. Because without the right mindset, you won’t ever find the success you’re seeking. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most common mindset obstacles that can hold you back from achieving your business goals…
Obstacle 1: Negative People It would be nice if all your closest friends and family completely supported you, but that’s not usually what happens. Instead, what you’ll find out is that many of your loved ones end up being nay-saying, negative people.
It’s one thing when strangers laugh at your dreams and ridicule it. It’s another thing entirely when someone you love does it to you. It hurts. It can make you second guess your business ideas and plans. Yes, it can destroy your business plans altogether.
But that’s only if you let these negative people get to you. If you can push past their negativity, then you’ll be one step closer to your goals. Take Walt Disney as an example.
His banker wouldn’t loan him any money because he thought Disney’s idea for an animated film was ridiculous. His wife didn’t think there was an audience for it either. His own brother laughed in his face when Disney showed him the prototype for what would become Mickey Mouse.
Of course you know how this story ends. Disney was able to brush past the ridicule, the nay-saying, the doubting and the negativity. Today the Disney company is one of the largest and most profitable entertainment empires in the world, with books, movies, theme parks, TV shows and more. So let that sink in for a moment…
If Walt Disney had listened to all the negative voices around him, Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney World wouldn’t even exist today. Trust me, you’re going to get bombarded by negative voices too.
You need to learn how to tune them out and not let them distract you from your business plans and dreams.
You may need to stop talking business with the negative people in your life. If someone is too negative (about everything), you may even consider cutting them out of your life – or at least spending less time with them – because you don’t need that sort of toxicity around you. Next up… Obstacle 2: Not Believing in Yourself It’s hard enough when others ridicule your ideas or doubt your plans.
But sometimes that negative voice is your own. If you listen really closely, you may find your inner critic saying:
• This will never work.
• Who am I kidding?
• This is a waste of my time.
• I’m too old/young/inexperienced/stupid to do this. The first step is to simply learn to listen for this voice. It’s probably already playing in an endless loop, but you’re not always aware of it because you’re so used to it. Once you hear it, then you need to put it in its place. Counteract it. Talk back to it. For example:
• This will work because I’ve done the research and I’m persistent. • I’m smart enough to do this. I have experience.
• This is a good idea.
• The world needs this, and I need to deliver it to them. Once you get in the habit of recognizing and then counteracting your own negative critic, it will release its hold on you. Then you’ll be able to move forward more easily with your dreams and your plans.
Obstacle 3: Fear This is a huge dream killer. It might be fear of failure. It might be fear of success. It could just be the all-encompassing fear of the unknown.
Many people prefer to stick with the familiar, even if it means tossing their dreams to the wayside. Thing is, fear doesn’t always grip you with icy fingers. It doesn’t always come in a recognizable form. Many times it just sort of sneaks up on you and sabotages your business. Here are three disguises it takes on:
• Procrastination. This is pretty obvious when this happens. You start off the day with good intentions, but when it’s over you realize you didn’t do anything. Instead, you fiddled around on Facebook or watched videos on YouTube.
Maybe you even went offline and did something else. But the point is, you procrastinated and didn’t make any progress towards your business goals.
• Perfectionism. This is a tricky one, because society supports people who do a good job. So when someone never gets anything done because they’re trying to get it “perfect,” they can just tell themselves it’s a good thing that they’re doing a good job.
But guess what?
Nothing will ever be perfect. And once you realize that, you’ll be able to release products, launch business ideas and unleash websites on the world when they’re good (but not necessarily perfect), because you know you can always fix them as you go.
Take any software company as an example – they release good software, even though they know it’s not perfect. Once it’s out in the wild, then real users help them find the flaws so they can fix them. Point is, perfectionism isn’t the quest for the best – often it’s just fear in disguise.
Because if you never release anything, then you don’t have to worry about failing (or succeeding).
• Busy-work. This is where you find yourself extremely busy from morning until night, but you don’t actually get the important stuff done. For example, you set out to do market research. A week later all you’ve done is read forum post after forum post, which you’ve convinced yourself is important work.
Chances are it’s just busywork, because if you don’t work on the big stuff, then you never have to worry about failure or success (because you’ll never launch anything).
Point is, learn to recognize these disguises as fear. Then feel the fear and do it anyway, because nothing melts fear like purposeful action. Will You Choose Success?
Most people don’t realize that success is a choice – and you can make your choice right now.
You can choose to keep doing what you’ve always been doing… which means you’ll keep getting what you’ve always been getting. Day in, day out. Same thing. Same level of success. Same income. Same lifestyle. Same level of excitement (or boredom) that you’ve always had.
The alternative is for you to choose success right now. You can choose more fun, more excitement and more money as your business dreams come true.
If you choose success, then all you need to do is tweak your mindset so that you’re ready to handle whatever life throws at you. Fear melts away.
Comments from negative people bounce off you like you’re made of Teflon. You find yourself excited and motivated every day to get up and work on your business.
So how do you make these sorts of mindset tweaks? Simple, you go right now to successupgrade.com. Get the right mindset, and nothing can you hold you back. Find out for yourself by checking out the link right now.
Special permission to republish this article was granted by Promote Labs Inc. & successupgrade.com
You can take two people from the same background and give them the same resources, blueprints and business plans.
One of those people will go on to enjoy massive success, while the other person washes out after a few months or maybe a few years. So what’s the difference between these two people? Just this: mindset. If someone has the right mindset, they can begin with a poor business plan and still win in the end.
On the other hand, someone with a poor mindset can begin with the best business plan in the world… and yet still epically fail in the end. Mindset really does make all the difference.
So the question is, do YOU have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur? Read on to find out if you possess these characteristics…
You’re Willing To Take Risks So you’re not exactly going to run to Vegas and drop your life savings on the roulette wheel. That would be a dumb move. But if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, then you need to be willing to take some risk.
The good news is that with careful planning and research, you can take calculated risks that are good bets. You see, there are no guarantees in business. Great ideas fail all the time. Even established businesses lose market share when something better comes along. (When was the last time you heard someone talk about MySpace or Alta Vista?)
So you need to be able to absorb some amount of risk and then push forward even if things don’t turn out exactly the way you planned. Which brings us to the next point…
You See Failures Differently When the average person fails, he beats himself up. If it’s a stinging failure, the average person quits. He decides his plans weren’t meant to be, and he scraps all his big plans and dreams.
Successful entrepreneurs are different because they don’t see failures as failures – instead, they see failures and disappointments as lessons.
Take Thomas Edison as an example. He tried to create a light bulb in thousands of different ways. He didn’t see these experiments as failures. Instead, he saw them as a lesson in how not to create a light bulb. So every time he “failed” to create the light bulb, he figured he was one step closer to success.
If you can start seeing your failures as lessons and learn from them, then you too can put yourself one step closer to success. You’re Tenacious Another characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is that they don’t give up very easily.
Go back to the Edison example – he “failed” thousands of times, but he didn’t give up. Pick up the biography of some of your favorite entrepreneurs, and you’ll find out that their road to success wasn’t always smooth.
There were obstacles, setbacks and problems. Yet the true entrepreneur keeps going – and that’s what you’ll need to do too, no matter what life throws your way. You Make Data-Driven Decisions Sure, just about every successful entrepreneur on the planet has made a decision based on a gut feeling.
But the key here is that successful entrepreneurs make decisions based on the data whenever possible, and try to leave emotion out of the decision-making process.
Point is, you don’t throw darts at a dartboard when it’s decision time. You’re also not so arrogant as to think you have all the answers. Instead, you do your research. You test. And then you analyze the data before making a decision.
It may not be the exact right decision, but taking a calculated risk is better than blindly guessing.
In Sum…
People are going to laugh at you. You’re going to feel fear at times. Your plans won’t always work out. Sometimes life is going to throw you a curve ball.
Question is, will you keep going? Will you feel the fear and do it anyway? Will you be able to block out negativity and keep your eye on your goal?
Many people try to start businesses. Most of them fail. Some of these entrepreneurs never try again, and go on to live a meager existence in some cubicle that they absolutely hate.
It doesn’t have to be that way for you. Because once you tweak your mindset, then you can write your own ticket in life.
The good news is you don’t need to be born with this mindset – you can learn how to think like an entrepreneur starting right now at successupgrade.com – check it out, because this could be the big turning point for you.
Special permission to republish this article was granted by Promote Labs Inc. & successupgrade.com
If you’re starting a new business—or if you’re looking to grow your existing business—then you’ve probably spent a fair amount of time studying marketing strategies.
That’s good. That’s important. But marketing strategies only won’t get you to where you want to be. This is particularly true if you’re making any of the following five mistakes. Take a look…
Mistake 1: Being Afraid to Negotiate As a business owner, you get plenty of opportunities to negotiate.
For example:
• You can negotiate a better affiliate deal with a vendor. If you’re the vendor, you can negotiate better terms with your super affiliates. • You can negotiate for better terms with your freelancers and employees.
• You can negotiate for lower rates or other perks from suppliers. • You negotiate good deals between you and your joint venture partners or even your business partners. Those are just a few of the most common negotiation opportunities that you may encounter on a fairly regular basis.
Now here’s the interesting part…
Most people never fully take advantage of these opportunities. In fact, most people never even attempt to negotiate. They feel silly. They feel afraid.
But what’s the worst that could happen? Someone says no. Big deal. Life moves on. And what’s the best-case scenario? Someone will agree to your terms, and you’ll end up getting a much better deal. Depending on what you’re negotiating, this could save or even generate thousands of extra dollars for you. It’s definitely worth at least asking if there’s room to negotiate.
Now here’s the next mistake…
Mistake 2: Letting Negativity Influence You No matter how solid your business plan is or even how well you’re doing, there’s always going to be someone who tries to tear you down. They’ll tell you your plans won’t work. They’ll say you should go get a “real job.” Even when you’re doing well, they’ll warn you that it won’t last. This is actually a lot more common than you think. Even some of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world have had to deal with this sort of negativity.
Take Walt Disney, whose own wife and brother laughed at his plans, and they told him no one would be interested in the types of films and animated characters he was developing. Of course we know how that story ended up. Today Disney is a household name, with an empire that includes amusement parks, movies, merchandise and more. If Disney had listened to his family, that empire wouldn’t exist. And that’s why it’s so important for you to believe in yourself and persist, even when everyone around seems to be unloading their negativity on you.
You need to let it slide off of you like water off a duck’s back. Which brings us to the next mistake…
Mistake 3: Failing To Plan When that negativity comes at you hard and fast, there’s one thing you can hold up as a shield to deflect it: a solid business plan. When you have a solid business plan, that means you’ve thought through ever part of your business in great deal. For example:
• You’ve figured out your target market, and learned as much as you can about them.
• You’ve designed a sales funnel, so you know what you’re going to sell to your target market.
• You’ve created a lead-generation and conversion strategy, so you know how you’re going to bring your target market to your website. • You’ve studied your competitors to the degree that you even know their strengths and weaknesses.
• You’ve looked for opportunities and threats within your marketplace.
• You’ve thought through potential problems and come up with solutions an workarounds. In other words, you’ve chosen a business model and a designed a plan for turning a profit. And if you do this, you’ll be ahead of the vast majority of people who start a business. After all, if you’re failing to plan, then you’re basically planning to fail. Next up…
Mistake 4: Wasting Time No one sets out to waste time intentionally. It’s not like you sit down at your computer at the beginning of the day and proclaim, “I think I’ll waste as much time as possible today.” And yet it happens. You blink, the day is gone, and you’re nowhere near getting through your to-do list. That’s a lot of wasted time—and wasted opportunity.
So what you need to do is focus on ways to make yourself more productive. Here are a few tips to help you out:
• Create and prioritize your to-do list. Before you go to bed at night, you should create a to-do list so that you know exactly what you need to do tomorrow. Be sure to prioritize this list so that your most crucial and important tasks are at the top of the list. In other words, focus on those tasks that deliver the biggest results to you.
• Try productivity apps. If you have troubles with distracting sites such as Facebook, then you may want to try a productivity app. These apps shut down all programs except for your essential programs, such as your word processor. This forces you to focus, because your typical distractions are inaccessible.
• Use timers. Sometimes being productive is as simple as setting a time for 20 minutes, and working as quickly as you can for the duration. If you keep setting a 20 minute timer throughout your allotted work time, you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish.
And finally…
Mistake 5: Not Doing Market Research A lot of business owners and marketers get product ideas, think the idea is awesome, and then rush out to create the product. But when they put the product up for sale, no one buys it. Tumbleweeds blow over the order form. There is not even a trickle of sales, much less a flood.
So what happened?
The business owner probably didn’t do their market research. Don’t make this costly and time-consuming mistake. Instead, do some research to find out what your market is already buying. If they’re already purchasing a certain type of product in your niche, then there’s a very good chance they’ll buy your product. This is particularly true if you follow these two guidelines: #1, create something better than the existing solutions. In other words, don’t just create a “clone” or a “me too” product. Instead, improve upon the existing solutions.
Create a better mouse trap, as the saying goes. Put out a product with more features and better benefits than anything else out there. #2, set yourself apart from the competition. This means creating a USP (unique sales proposition) that tells your prospects why your products are different and better than the competing products.
This is your succinct reason why people should buy from you instead of your competitors.
Let’s wrap things up…
Conclusion So now that you know about five of the most common mistakes that can derail your business, you need to take a good look at yourself to find out if you’re making any of these mistakes. Chances are, you’re making at least one of these mistakes. In fact, most new business owners make several of these mistakes. For example, if you’ve ever had a day pass you by where you didn’t get much done, then you know the importance of productivity.
Or if you’ve ever launched a product that flopped, then you know why it’s so important to do your market research. The good news is that you now know to avoid these mistakes. And you can easily avoid many of the other top business mistakes too.
How?
By joining so many other savvy marketers to become a Power Marketer’s Club member. This is a site developed by two of the net’s top marketers.
These are two guys who’ve put multiple millions of dollars into their bank accounts over the years. They’ve been there, they’ve done that, and now they want to teach you the business strategies that will help you start or grow your business too.
