I often times get asked what the difference is between business owners that make it and those that don’t. In my experience, I’ve noticed it comes down to the proper mindset and keeping your ego at bay.
I’ve also noticed that there are certain thoughts that will straight up ruin your business. As soon as you feel any of these creeping up, it’s time to start questioning them.
“I know everything.”
Want to know a sure-fire way to ruin your business? Thinking you know everything there is to know about running it.
Someone once pointed out to me how humble I am after winning awards for my blog, having an Amazon best-selling book and landing columns with big time clients. I’m not humble to not give myself credit where it’s due or, worse, to get people to praise me. I’m humble because I know the moment I start thinking I know everything is the moment my business will start taking a nosedive.
Here’s the truth: You will never know everything. It’s impossible. Especially in a time where everything moves so fast. For example, social media, which you need in order for your business to survive, changes all the time.
Additionally, it’s only by realizing that there’s always something new to learn that you can grow your business beyond what you can even fathom in your own mind. It’s also the only way you’ll be open to guidance from others.
Essentially, you need to maintain a beginner’s mind when running a business. This means that even if you technically know stuff, that you realize you don’t know everything and approach new things with an open mind.
“I have to do everything myself.”
No you don’t.
And actually, you can’t even if you tried.
In order to run a successful business, you need to let go of control. You need to learn to trust other people to help you run things. Otherwise, you’re going to hit a wall and potentially ruin your business.
We’re taught not to trust other people. We also love the “self-made millionaire” story where someone overcame all odds to become rich. We romanticize the crap out of that narrative and it doesn’t do us any favors.
The reality is no successful person got to where they are alone. They’ve all had a support system of some kind. And, with time, they also learned to build support systems into their businesses.
“I won’t do it unless I know it’s going to work.”
Here’s a newsflash: you never know whether or not something in your business is going to work.
Every decision you make is a calculated risk. Every idea you have could potentially fail. That’s just the nature of the beast, and until you get comfortable with this, you’re never going to move forward in your business.
Could you ruin your business by making a bad move? Yeah. But you could also ruin your business by not moving at all out of fear of failure.
Final Thoughts
By keeping your mindset and ego in check, you’ll be able to build your business beyond what you can even imagine. Just remember to always maintain a beginner’s mind, ask for help and get comfortable with failure.
