Do you ever worry that your business will fail? It’s hard to contemplate failure, especially when you’re working so hard and want so much to be successful.
Considering failure is valuable, though, because the very ingredients that make for business failure can be transformed into business success.
Here are 5 ingredients that go into the mix of business failure, and how you can transform them for your own business success:
1. Unclear purpose
Here’s the thing: the more clarity you have about what you want, the more likely you are to get it. In your business, having little or no focus on anything but making a profit results in scattered effort and less effectiveness. Ironically, it leads to less money too.
Transformation: Clear Purpose
Have you ever been part of something greater than just you and your self-interest? Feels great, right? The reason it does is that we are actually built that way. We are motivated, and can accomplish great things in service of something bigger than ourselves. It’s no different for your business. Define your greater purpose. Define the impact you want to have in your business, your community, and the larger world. Then you’ll have clarity and energy to do more with your business. You’ll have the motivation to pull through tough times, for even greater success.
Communicate that impact purpose to your prospects and customers. People are drawn to businesses with a higher purpose.
2. Destructive thinking
A day at work filled with thoughts about imminent failure and negative perceptions of people’s motives will drain you and your motivation, and ultimately, kill your business. Not only that, destructive thinking also negatively affects your health and even your life span.
Transformation: Constructive Thinking
Your thinking affects your actions in your business and everywhere else in your life. Optimistic thinking followed by persistent action leads to better results. If you’re not naturally inclined that way, the good news is that you can learn optimism. Problems become less personal, the size of the problem more realistic, and the fleeting nature of problems more clear.
You can support your constructive thinking with a daily ritual that includes mindfulness (e.g., meditation, breathing exercises), visualization (mentally rehearsing your desired outcomes), and affirmations, including gratitude. Schedule your daily ritual in. You can do this in 15 minutes, and it will make a great difference, especially as a start to your day.
3. Unproductive action
Low productivity means you can be working all day for days on end without moving closer to business success. We’re in a culture of busy-ness, and it’s tempting to fill our hours without thinking too much about whether the actions are in themselves valuable.
Transformation: Productive Action
Productivity begins with focusing your actions on your impact. Will this help me to be more impactful? Is it aligned with my impact purpose?
A quick overview of powerfully effective strategies for productive action:
- Plan before you begin each day. Plan the night before if you can.
- Do the most impactful thing first, so you always have some progress each day.
- Rush unimportant tasks. Set a time limit on each job to help move you through it more quickly.
- Delegate. Allowing others the opportunity to offer what they do well in areas that are not your strengths is a great service to them, and a great time-creator for you.
- Segment your time, then rest. I work in 50 minute blocks, followed by 10 minutes doing something completely different to rejuvenate. Find the time frame that works for you.
No doubt about it, choosing productive actions requires discipline. And in the best way! Discipline serves you by helping you to choose the things that will help you reach your business goals and be successful.
4. Constricted connection
It can feel comforting to stick with your close circle and not expand further. It takes work to reach out and maintain new connections. Staying with your same small comfortable group, though, will hold you back in your business.
The quality of your connections matter too. Are you surrounding yourself with negative people? People who aren’t as interested in success as you are? Who you spend time with matters.
Transformation: Expanding Circle of Connection
Expanding your circle of connection is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business success. The more people you know, the more likely you are to learn new things. They also become a source of inspiration, and more connections that can help you in your business. People love to be helpful. Give them that gift of asking for and receiving their help.
Find and welcome the support you need to be successful. Learn from an experienced business person as a mentor or coach. Reach out to people you admire and ask them questions. Make this a regular practice.
5. Money obsession
It can be tempting to become too focused on money. First, our culture encourages it. It’s considered a good thing to accumulate stuff. And you need money for that. The thing is, money and stuff don’t bring you happiness or vitality.
Second, if business isn’t going well, you can become hyperfocused on money and leave your values behind in order to make a profit.
Transformation: Money Health
Instead of focusing on money, focus on connections with people and with your purpose instead. Helping others in your business is what will bring you business success that is both healthy and sustainable.
Find balance and harmony around money. Yes, it’s important to know where you stand with money. But money is only a tool. Instead of loving money, love yourself and others. That is key to business success.
These 5 reasons why people fail in business don’t have to be a recipe for failure. Instead, you can transform them into success.
Complete your own transformation into success with the Alchemy Assignment. Click here to begin!
These are insightful descriptions of the inner transformations that lead to a healthier relationship with yourself and your business.
I especially appreciate what you wrote about expanding your circle of connection. As an entrepreneur, it can be challenging to move out of the isolation that we can unwittingly create through our intense focus on our own business. That’s something I’ve certainly experienced.
Recently I started reaching out to expand my circle of connections and it’s breathed new life into my business. In my morning meditation I ask within to be shown who needs my assistance, and who would be good to connect with for networking, support, advice, etc. Then, I follow up. It’s been leading to some incredibly enriching friendships, clients, and referrals. It’s also helped me direct others to those in my expanded network who can better serve them.
Thanks for sharing this wisdom, Ursula!
That is so awesome to hear that your expanding circle of connections is creating new energy for your business! You make a great point about focus – it’s necessary to be successful. So the challenge then becomes about creating harmony between focus and moving outside of it to connect – so valuable.