I have worked with quite a few entrepreneurs that have gone through a group program of mine or even paid the premium rates to get the personalized attention through one on one coaching sessions. There are common traits that most successful entrepreneurs have and there are common traits of the people that I could tell after spending time with them that they didn’t have what it took to create the vision they desired.
That’s what entrepreneurship is in its essence, is to create the vision that they see in their mind become a reality. It doesn’t matter how long they have to stay the path, the number of obstacles that stand in their way, nor the habits they have to form to become successful. Entrepreneurs always find a way to make something happen because they have a vision for the world and want to share it with us as well.
With that being said, there’s a huge difference between an entrepreneur and a “wantrepreneur”. Most of the world is filled with the “wantrepreneur” because they want a get rich quick scheme. They want to live this lavish lifestyle that they see on marketing videos, film, & listen to their friends introducing them to a scheme to make money quickly. Their friends aren’t doing anything except collecting a paycheck off of someone they consider a ‘friend’. But, I digress.
The number one reason why people fail is because they listen to their self imposed limitations and they decide not to take action towards their goals. It’s not because they don’t want to take action but they listen to what other people have told them in their past or their circle of influence.
These “wantrepreneurs” don’t understand the amount of work that it takes to actually create a successful business that will make them revenue.
The other reason why people fail in business is because they become so overwhelmed with the amount of work that needs to be done. Instead of looking at everything as a task to cross off the checklist, they think “how am I supposed to get all of this done and start making money by next week so I can quit my job that I hate commuting to every single day.”
Sort, Distort, Delete
Your mind is made up of two parts; the conscious and the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is the part of your mind that is aware of what’s going on in this exact moment in time. When you try to remember directions or a phone number, you are using your conscious mind.
Your subconscious mind is the part of your mind that is used for storage. Think of it as a storage room of everything that isn’t in your conscious mind. Your subconscious mind stores all of your previous life experiences, your beliefs, your memories, your skills, all the situations you’ve been through, and all images you’ve ever seen.
When you decide on the kind of business you want to start and you start reading on how to get started, you are instantly bombarded with information. Google is an incredible resource when used properly but it can be a black hole of pure overwhelm. Then you start clicking links that bring you to free newsletters, reports, and even videos on how you can start making tons of money/gaining more clients/spending more time doing what you love to do.
That sounds fantastic right?! You get free help from gurus that have been doing what you want to be doing for over 20 years and you get their knowledge in one simple report. Then your inbox fills up with email after email, after email, and now you are more confused on how to start than you were to begin with.
Your subconscious mind is trying to sort it out, distort the information so you can utilize it, and delete the parts that you don’t need while your conscious mind is constantly being overloaded. When this happens, you don’t make any progress because your conscious mind can’t even make a simple decision on what to do first.
Think of it this way. Have you ever thought that you were going to work out for an hour per day every single day? Then as the weeks went on, something came up and you suddenly have to miss a day that week but you’ll definitely make it up at the gym next week! The following week arrives and 2 surprise appointments come up and now you missed 2 days at the gym.
Suddenly, after about a month of that, you are no longer even going to the gym. “How could this happen?” you think to yourself but the reason is that you were forming the habit that missing the gym was okay.
Stop!
First of all, stop whatever it is that you are doing and focus solely on this article for the next few minutes. I’m going to go over 4 things that you can do, today, that will lead you down the path of success instead of falling into the pit of failure.
1. Stop Multi Tasking
Most people think that they should be able to listen to music while they are watching a presentation online on top of emailing someone on the importance of getting things done in a timely manner. Now let me just stop you for one second. How many times have you thought you had so much to do and so little time that you tried to do numerous tasks at once?
The question is did you ever finish any of them? One of the habits that you need to start implementing in your life is to stop multi tasking and start hyper focusing on one task at a time. What I tell my clients (& do in my own businesses) is work on one task for 90 minutes. Then I will take a short break and move onto the next task for another 90 minutes.
This is a technique I learned from Tony Schwartz. Why 90 minutes? Human bodies have an energy cycle that operates at 90-minute intervals throughout the day. When you work on something longer, it’s natural that our alert levels will go down and our attention will wander or we’ll feel drowsy.
2. Stop Over Complicate the Business
Humans love to complicate everything that we do. Why do you think people say relationships are very complicated? First of all, we make it complicated by saying it’s complicated but that’s beside the point.
In business, we love to make something that seems so simple and we seem to make it the most difficult thing in the world. Think of a sales call – what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of cold calling someone? You start by creating excuses as to why you can’t do it at this exact moment in time. Then something else comes up (that’s out of your control) so that gives you time to think about the call. Then you have to rehearse how you’ll introduce yourself & your business. You’ll do this for hours, repeating the whole process. You might even move onto another task (but you will most likely start doing unproductive tasks – such as watching television).
Then you allow your fear to muster inside of you until you haven’t taken any action and it’s the end of the day. You didn’t make any money because you didn’t pick up the phone. Stop overcomplicating everything and make everything simple. Turn huge ideas into simple tasks that you can do daily because small tasks in the long run will allow you to achieve large goals.
3. Stop Taking Action Towards Unproductive Tasks
Most people groan over Mondays because it’s the start of a new week and cheer when Friday rolls around because that means it’s the weekend. Instead of dreading Monday’s, you need to start preparing your week out ahead of time every single Sunday. If you can’t fill it out 100%, that’s okay but you need a sense of direction on actions that you’re going to take in your business to move forward every singled day.
The most powerful thing my coach had me do was tell them exactly what I did every single day for a week. I remember it being very little because I wasn’t taking the correct action. I was taking filler action that wasn’t propelling me forward in my business.
The most important thing that you can do for your business is to simplify your actions and move forward every single day. Makes sales calls, connect with 20 more people over social media, write out 5 or 6 different reports for lead generation, update your website, blog, make YouTube videos for your industry, schedule out your social media platforms, etc. The list is endless!
4. Stop Thinking You Know It All
The last reason why most people fail is because they believe they know everything there is to know about the industry. They don’t care to educate themselves on what’s not working for other people in their industry, how to market properly, don’t invest their money, & don’t spend their time wisely.
The most successful CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners are always searching for more information that could help them take their business to the next level. They join masterminds so they can get numerous perspectives on their business that could be the one missing puzzle piece they needed to reach total domination.
One of the best investments that I ever made was in a coach that helped me simplify my actions, gave me a sense of clarity to know where I wanted to take my business, & kept me accountable on my goals. They also taught me that success leaves clues and the power of recording those clues was the tipping point that allowed me to help countless others.
Without expanding my team and searching for the necessary knowledge, I would have closed my doors and given up. Coaches are invaluable and the knowledge a good coach brings to your business could be the difference between keeping your doors open & watching your dreams come true or closing them & never achieving the goals you set out for yourself.
It comes down to a choice. You have a choice to continue down the path that will lead towards absolute failure or you can start implementing certain habits that will lead you towards success. The choice is yours.
Andrew Carlson is a public speaker & an executive coach to restauranteurs and small business owners in LA. He provides clarity, direction, and results by helping them implement the systems necessary to succeed.
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