Less than 2% of the people in business achieve levels that you or I would deem successful…where they can earn enough to grow their business, pay themselves and continue to put money back into your business so that it can grow bigger and server more people.
That’s TINY!
The 98%/2% split doesn’t happen by chance…there are very real and known factors behind these brutal statistics.
Over the last decade I’ve had the absolute privilege of working with hundreds of them, multi-millionaires, many of whom I am able to call my friends today.
In that time I have started and grown my own businesses and have learned first-hand what works…and I MUST share some of these were complete surprises to me!
Each day I get to spend time working with the next generation of $Million Entrepreneurs, tweaking their ideas, market understanding, product offerings and branding to hit home-runs…so that gives me incredible insight into the limitations that hold many aspiring business entrepreneurs back.
Here are the 5 factors that have made the biggest difference between being stuck where you are versus exploding and reaching incredible levels of success that you may have wished for, but could not attain.Knowledge –
1. Mistake #1: Failing To Gain Knowledge/Expertise
The first element that most people ignore, or do not take seriously enough is the power of knowledge. Plain and simple, the most successful business people learn their area of expertise to a deeper level than anyone else who thinks about or tries to grow their business. I’m not talking about “theoretical” information…I am talking about studying the terminology, processes, monetization methods and strategies that really work from people who are already at the top – coming from a place you want to be. In fact, one of the biggest differences between today’s entrepreneur and entrepreneurs of the past is the rate at which they can tap into knowledge from strangers, friends and mentors via the online experience. Today, you can become highly knowledgeable by tapping into YouTube, on-line courses, ebooks, studying consumer behaviour on social networks. We are seeing the barrier to knowledge come down from decades to years and even months…you MUST recognize the power of knowledge.
2. Fail To Have Both Patience And Urgency
Many business people we work with inside InfoMarketer’sZone either believe in one or the other: Patience (the long-game) or Urgency (rushing toward overnight success). The reality of being an entrepreneur is that you need to have both. Specifically, you need to have patience enough to plan around the long-term and urgency enough to drive top performance from you and your team every hour of every day. You have to have both, too much patience without urgency and you never take the massive action required to build momentum and and a movement; too much urgency with little patience means you will badly judge important decisions favouring short-term success versus longer-term market principles which will ensure you do succeed.
3. Don’t Learn About Winning Strategies
Businesses may seem chaotic from the outside (and often feel that way on the inside), but the reality is that there are a given set of strategies in any business that you must know to make it work. You can ignore them and fail. You can learn them the hard-way (trial-and-error) and take forever to succeed or risk giving up before you figure it out. You can get the strategies that work from those who have come before – one of the key benefits of InfoMarketer’sZone is that we run a condensed, Fast-Track program for moving from business idea through product selection/development and launch to profit within 6-weeks saving you months and years of trial-and-error. While no teacher, mentor, coach or course will ever give you everything you need, the better ones can get you 75% of the way there making that last 25% that is specific to your market, your business and your personality much simpler for you.
4. Faulty Decision Making
Anyone reading this who has been either an owner of their own business, an entrepreneur or a senior level employee in a company knows how tough it can be to make critical decisions. You will also know how important it is that you DO make conscious decisions. Making no decision IS making a decision NOT to act, if this is your default then you will not succeed. Decision making happens in that “soft-middle” where you never have zero understanding or 100% understanding. The trick is to find a place where you combine your instincts with knowledge to make decisions that are both quick and effective. For you, that may be 35% knowledge, for someone else it may be 60% – but the reality is that you MUST make decisions where you do not have 80%, 90% or 100% of the facts or knowledge AND be good at it. That takes knowing yourself, your business, your market and jumping in with both feet, not being afraid to fail.
5. Hesitancy – Not Certain
One of the most deadly places you can be as an entrepreneur is having an idea, plan or action where you are hesitant. Any twinge of uncertainty negatively impacts your own mind, the minds of your supporting team and definitely comes across to your market. Once you have gained the knowledge, made your decision you MUST be 110% certain and committed to that idea, action or plan – your own energy, motivation, happiness and personal power depend on it as does your ability to persuade and influence others around you. You also know that you will make mistakes and that is ok, you will take accountability, learn and improve as a result.
How many of these debilitating mistakes can you relate to?
Perhaps if you don’t recognize them in your own personality, I’m sure you have come across them with entrepreneurs or bosses that you have met?
Look closely at your own capabilities – recognize where you are strong and where you can improve.
Are you someone who tends to make great decisions, but you are unwilling to get help from others to short-cut and improve your chances of success?
Are you someone who does seek out help and strategies but lacks the confidence and decision making capability to get things really rolling?
For your business to succeed, you need to master all five of these traits – the closer you get to that goal, the more your business will flourish.
