in: Holistic Business
by: Sabina Hitchen
As any entrepreneur knows, a large portion of small business success is mental. Just like an athlete, you have to get your brain in the game long before the actual game (or business work) begins. This is especially true as you begin scaling your business, working to lander bigger deals, accounts, customers, grow in physical size or even grow in knowledge and strategic awareness in terms of your business.
Though those moments before and during growth stages can be nerve wracking and difficult, in order to truly survive and thrive as business owners we have to face them and do so with the right mindset. That's where we come in! Use these tried, true and tested mantras today and get yourself and your staff psyched for growth!
If You Can Draw a Small Circle You Can Draw a Bigger Circle: Often the size of a project, meeting or any other type of undertaking is the most daunting part of it, because the actual steps and tasks involved are very similar if not identical to what we do regularly on a much smaller scale. When I began growing and scaling my first business, my mother (an entrepreneur who produced events and catered) imparted this wisdom on me. She focused on this mantra when she had to do her first really big event. Though the size of what she was creating and grown from parties of 20-50 to parties of 200 plus, most of the components of those events remained the same. Small Circle to Bigger Circle. Same lines, same shape, same basic principles. I encourage you to apply this manner of thinking the next time you're asked to "go big" in your business. Draw that circle!
It's Better to Go Slowly and Surely in the Right Direction, then Speed Off in the Wrong Direction: Growth often takes time (and we, as entrepreneurs, tend to be impatient). Growth takes planning. Big "asks" often take big prep work or behind the scenes preparation. All too often we give up on the way to our big growth goals because of these things. It's much easier to speed off in the wrong direction, the one with fewer barriers and fewer people on the road with us, but just because it's a speedy, unobstructed road doesn't mean it's headed in the right way. Go easy on yourself when you realize that getting to the "next level", whatever that next level is, is going to take some sweat, time and hard work. Those are the common factos in any great, big success story!
Let Go of Needing Things to be Easy. Sometimes the Only Way Around the Mountain is Through the Mountain: Small Business, entrepreneurship, building buzz for your brand story and the things you've created. Those aren't easy jobs. Once you've started accomplishing them, turning them into even bigger and more profitable ventures is even harder. Though modern day snake oil salesmen (or women) may tell you otherwise, it's important to let go of the belief that it will be easy. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable! Be able to simmer in your nervousness before a big call, and focus and turn that nervous energy into energy that says "this is a challenge I'm excited to take on", or "I can't wait to see how this turns out". If you can't be okay with the challenge, the "mountain" and the push for big growth, big success or big happiness, the journey is going to be much more difficult!
