I coach business entrepreneurs. People, maybe like you, who want to get into business. Many of them have this great business idea. They understand being financially free, and being your own boss and all the great things that go with business. They’re concentrated on the business idea and are so anxious to get into the business.
I have to stop them and talk to them about what being successful is all about. We talk about the ability to have long-term success in business or whatever their dreams or passion may be. You see, it’s not about the business idea really, it’s about you. It’s about changing you. It’s about changing those habits that have kept you from being successful.
And often they’re taken aback and say no, no let’s talk about my business idea. This is what I came to talk to you about. And I respond, no that will come. The business concept, the idea is fine, and we’ll get to that later. But if you don’t change some things in your life that have been holding you back then any great business idea will eventually fail. I mean there is a reason for these statistics from a recent Small Business Administration survey. You may have heard these statistics.
- 30% of all new businesses fail within 2 years
- 50% fail within 5 years
- 66-70% of new businesses will fail after 10 years.
Three quarters, 7 out of 10 businesses will not make it past 10 years. Why is that? Why do you think businesses fail? Bad idea? Economy changes? There may be a small percentage that fall into an external reason. But even in a pandemic there are many businesses that do not fail. The main reason why businesses fail is due to the individuals within that business. The owners fail themselves. They were not personally prepared for their own success. You see working on ourselves and improving the way we operate within – mentally, physically, spiritually – is what sets our life into motion to be able to find true success.
A business concept will come and go but the true development is within. Figuring out those things that we need to change within ourselves – the work ethic, habits, and character traits. Those are things that are common to all successful people.
You know there are reasons why successful people have common character traits. What their area of expertise is, or their type of business is irrelevant. It’s the personal traits that they develop that allow them to continue to be successful. Why?
#1 Successful people understand that everything in life is a challenge and challenges are meant to be overcome and learned from
You see we don’t really fail…failures are just a series of small setbacks that we learn from. If we are not prepared mentally for that then the first couple failures that come along are brutal. We become sick to our stomachs, feel like the sky is falling, and we give up. Instead, we should look at setbacks or challenges as opportunities for us to learn from and adapt to. Successful people are able to do that.
#2 Discipline & Consistency are essential in business
One of the keys to becoming successful in business is working on yourself physically and getting into your best physical shape. You may ask why? That has nothing to do with my idea about opening a store or launching a product. It absolutely does! The traits you acquire by being disciplined and consistently exercising are the same traits you need to develop for success in your business. Getting up and getting into shape, eating right and physically becoming the person you’re meant to be will help you in good and tough times. Why?
#3 Your life traits – personal goals must reflect your business goals
Your business concept is important, but you must stop and realize that in order to be successful that first you must work on you. Focus on what makes you become successful within. Before we can accomplish great things in business, we must first accomplish great things within us. We must overcome those small things that add up into negatives that ultimately destroy us and perhaps relationships along the way. We must work on being honest, hardworking, a person of integrity, keeping our word, paying our bills, paying people on time, following through on things we promised, and the things that we say.
In my experience, many people just aren’t prepared for the journey when they get into business. They just think it’s one dimensional. Oh, I get it, in business I open a store, I sell a product or a service and that’s all there is to it. But if you haven’t worked on yourself physically, financially, spiritually, and morally then you’re not set to be successful long term. People who are successful long term are successful because they have more invested in themselves, not just their business. Remember, success is never an accident.
