Jul 2014 The hidden reason why many businesses don’t succeed
Think about this guy for a moment. His name is Jake, he has run his landscape construction business for 11 years and has 5 employees. Jake struggles everyday to manage his guys, oversee the jobs, buy materials, do quoting, sales and marketing. When you talk to Jake you know that his working life is a struggle because he tells you. “I have been winning a lot less jobs and making less money per job than ever before. And my guys can’t do anything without calling me, I just get so many distractions, it gives me little time to do my stuff”.
When you ask Jake how does he picture himself as a business owner?
He laughs and says just a small guy that struggles to make a living.
You can probably see that what Jake is thinking and doing is not going to produce a successful environment, unless something shifts. Psychologists have been telling us for years that success starts in the mind. A positive internal self image (how you picture yourself as a business owner or a person has a massive impact on your life).
So when Jake reads this he would probably say, yeah I see what you are saying but my reality is that I am struggling from week to week in a tough market, how in hell can I see myself as someone I am not, how can I see myself as successful or the owner of a thriving business.
The answer is that you can’t afford not to Jake!
If you start seeing yourself as someone that is more professional, more organised and the owner of a profitable business and start backing up those thoughts with better actions, you are not deluding yourself, but are changing the way you think about yourself and the respect you have for yourself as an effective owner. And when you do that you will start making better decisions, be more proactive and attract better situations. You will automatically feel compelled to improve parts of your business that need it.
So why do so many business owners start to grow their businesses and experience some success but a little while later end up losing their new found success? Maybe they didn’t have the right systems, people and infrastructure but I also believe a bigger reason is that their internal picture and beliefs of themselves (their internal self image) hadn’t changed. They still had a negative image of themselves and didn’t believe at a subconscious level that they deserved their success.
This is that hidden area that many of us know about but fail to give attention, when clearly it deserves a conscious effort.
Your internal self-image or how you see yourself as a business person plays a massive part in whether you build a strong business, take your business to the next level or if you continue to struggle. So if you are sick of struggling or feel your business is treading water, the cycle can be broken with some mental effort from you and taking some positive action to improve your business.