The lessons that I share in this post are what I found to be the most valuable lessons for me as I build my business. However, I strongly believe that these same lessons will serve us well in any new venture that we undertake, whatever it may be. I use these same principles in different areas of my life and they work every time. Building your own business can be an extraordinary opportunity that can allow you to live an extraordinary life. As a person who thrives on new challenges and adventures, and loves to set her own agenda, starting and developing my business has been, and still is, a great source of joy and achievement for me. One thing I know for sure is that building your own business will be one of the biggest self development journeys that you will ever undertake.
Who you are at the start of this journey and who you become along the way will be two very different people. Why? Because starting and building your business will always bring challenges, obstacles and barriers that you need to overcome. You are going to do things that are completely new to you, that you have never done before, taking you far out of your comfort zone. But if you persist and succeed then building your own business, or business's, can be one of the most rewarding and extraordinary experiences that you have.
For me, building my business, like my life, is a journey of constant and never ending learning. Here, I share with you the most valuable lessons that I have learnt as I build my business. I hope that you find them useful
#1 Know Your Why
Know why you're are doing what you are doing. A strong why is what will keep you going when the journey gets difficult and you feel like quitting. There will be many challenges and obstacles along the way, but if our why is strong enough we will keep going. A strong why is what will get us out of bed early, excited in the morning, and keep us up later at night. So now we know our why, we need to set ....
#2. Goals
Setting goals is often a new experience for many of us, it certainly was for me. It is amazing how few of us set goals or realize the importance of them, yet without goals, we will just stumble through life. Goals are the basis for our success. As Earle Nightingale put it so eloquently "Goals are the very definition of success". What exactly is it you want to achieve? The goal needs to be clear, precise, with a timeline. It is important you know what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it by? For example if you want to loose weight. What is the exact amount of weight that you want to loose? What is the exact date that you will loose it by? So, for example, I will loose X amount of kilos by October 31, 2015 is a lot more measurable and powerful than I want to loose weight by October 2015. This way, you now know what you want to achieve and by when. Set short, medium, and long term goals, and give them a starting date and a completion date. Our goals are set so now we need .......
#3 A Plan
How are we going to make this happen? Once we have our goals in place, and we know, and are very clear as to what we want to accomplish, we then need to create a plan as to how we are going to bring this about. Chris Gardner puts it best when he says "A dream without a plan is just a dream". We have our vision, we know our why and we have set our goals, so now we are going to put into writing how we are going to achieve our goals.What do we need to do daily, weekly, monthly, yearly to make this happen? Who do we need to speak to? Who can help us and support us? What finances or resources do I need to start? Plan it all. Now our plan is in place, we need to take.....
#4 Action
Nothing happens until we take action. In the beginning this can often be the scariest part of all. Why? Because now we have to take all our dreams, goals, and plans, and put them into action.We now have to go out and share our vision. We will need to talk to people. To sell people on our vision or product. Get others to see what we see. This will involve taking action that we are completely uncomfortable and unfamiliar with, stepping right out of our comfort zone. This was a big one for me. I found and still find doing this difficult. However, I make sure that I work on myself in this area constantly because; becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable is really important. No growth or improvement in any area of our life happens until we move out of our comfort zone and do the uncomfortable. As we continue taking action we need to.....
#5 Work through the fear
"Everything we want is on the other side of fear". Fear is written about, and spoken about, almost more than any other subject in the fields of self-development, achieving, and goals. It is a subject on its own. Where does our fear come from and why is it so prevalent? There are many thoughts and articles on this subject, but make no mistake, fear is very real and is responsible for more dreams and opportunities dying before they have even got off the ground than almost anything else.
Imagine the world that opens to us when we learn to deal with fear and take the next step. So much becomes possible. This is an area in my life that I have had to, and still do, work on. For me, the greatest cure for fear is action, yes action. Something magical happens when we take action and do the very thing that scares us. It gives us the confidence to go ahead and take the next step, and then the next, and then the next. Taking that next step is key because this is what puts us on the road to success. For some, one baby step at a time. It will get us there because eventually our baby steps grow into much larger, more confident, and successful steps. Success becomes ours because we took that first step in fear. There is tremendous power in taking those steps in the face of fear.
Very good Shelley. Cheers.
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Thank you Mojisola.
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