After running three home based businesses, one of the most important lessons I have learned is that you must have some level of positive self esteem in order to succeed. Without it, we run the risk of self-sabotage, which kills any business. It is particularly destructive for home based businesses, simply because if we are sabotaging our only employee, how will the show go on?!
Then again, it also extremely important to know how you define success. If success is simply grocery money and a lot of time with your kids, or if you are building the next fortune 500 empire, you need to have benchmarks in place in order to know if you are on the right track. Otherwise, you may continue to work every day, never feeling like you are getting anywhere, because you don’t have any references in place for what success is.
No matter what your business goals are, here are the top ten key success ingredients for home based businesses, or any small business, for that matter!
1. Focus on What you Want, not What you Don’t Want.
The first and most important rule of all. You will always, always get what you focus on. You don’t want a failing business, a lack of customers, or an unsatisfying work at home career. So don’t dwell on it. This can be especially challenging if your business is not where you want it to be. If that is the case, work on asking yourself better questions. For example, instead of saying, “Why is my revenue down?” ask yourself “Why am I so grateful to have this opportunity to pursue my dreams, and what resources do I have now that could lead to future growth?”
2. Master Frustration.
This is the one that brings a groan out of most people—and the most un-sexy and un-fun item on the list. Yet it is one of the most crucial to your success. Many small business entrepreneurs start their own company with the hope that it will alleviate some pain in their lives. It will, but it will also create new sources of pain. The key is to take every problem and think of it instead as a ‘challenge’, or as ‘an invitation to grow’.
3. Master Boredom.
Let’s face it. A high percentage of entrepreneurs are what could be considered add. The reasons for this are plentiful - individuals with add are visionaries, ones who are constantly coming up with new and brilliant ideas, and people with a tremendous ability to think creatively. They are also people who hate boredom. We will always do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure. And if entrepreneurs avoid critical tasks simply because they are boring, they leave themselves open to self-sabotage and will leave many projects incomplete.
4. Search your soul to find a business that you will be passionate about.
There are many resources out there to help you to identify “what you want to be when you grow up”. The reason this is so important is that running your own business will be boring and downright frustrating at times. In order to push yourself through these challenges, having a higher purpose to your work will be the biggest motivator to get past the bad times. Here are some of my favorite resources for identifying and pursuing your dreams:
Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Paul D. Tieger
Totally Fulfilled: More Money, More Freedom, More Smiles, Less Stress by Dean Graziosi
What to Do with The Rest of Your Life: America’s Top Career Coach Shows You How to Find or Create the Job You’ll LOVE by Robin Ryan
The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out by Joe Vitale
I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It by Barbara Sher
5. Make every business decision with the following question in mind “How will this add value to my customers’ business or life?”
I don’t know how much explanation this one requires.
