How to Grow Your Business in 2021- You Need To Change!
So many business owners go into business hoping to build something more amazing than what they end up with. Many end up earning less money and working longer hours than they would if they had just worked for someone else. A lot of the time this is because they aren’t willing to get out of their comfort zone and make some changes.
I wanted to share a story with you that someone told me many, many years ago and it really made me think “you know what? I’ve got to be comfortable making some changes.” Have you got kids? I have, now let’s say they’re in grade four. I know if my kid came home and told me they had to repeat grade four I’d be a little disappointed. I’d be lying to you if I said I wouldn’t be. I’d spend the evenings wondering what was wrong, was it the teacher? Or maybe there’s something wrong with the school? Put it this way, I’d be very concerned.
If this happened once, you’d be supportive, you’d say to your child, “Off you go, if you have to repeat the year then you have to repeat the year. Now, let’s make sure we do a better job the second time around. But what if they got to the end of this second year and told me that they had to repeat year four again?
This time around, the alarm bells would start ringing. We’d be starting to think that there’s definitely something more to this than the school system or the teacher. You’d start to worry, wouldn’t you? You’d maybe even start to get involved. You’d ask “why is my child not learning this stuff? Why are they struggling?” Now, imagine this happened in the third year. Actually, let’s say it happened so many years in a row that they were driving themselves to go to grade four
You might have a chuckle to yourself about that because it’s kind of insane right? But this is what I see so many adults doing and maybe you’re doing it too. Have you repeated the same year, year in year out, and made it ok? Think about it. If you were in school that definitely wouldn’t be ok. You would know something was wrong, you’d be talking to the teachers or you would go to a tutor for help.
Yet as adults, when people leave school, they go into the workforce and they tend to not work on graduating each year. The main reason for this is because there is no test at the end of the year. So as an adult, we tend to get stuck in our comfort zone and when we’re in our comfort zone we typically stay in the same place that we were at, we never really grow. Our finances won’t grow, our lives won’t get better, or our relationships don’t get better. We really do get stuck. We hit a glass ceiling, you might not be able to see it but it’s there and it stops you from growing.
So, I want to challenge you to graduate. What I mean by this is if you were to go through the next ten years of your life being tested and being judged like you were at school, what would be on the scorecards at the end of each year? What things would you have to pass with an A grade or greater to succeed?
This is what you need to do if you want to be successful. No one is going to hold you accountable for this as an adult unless of course, you get yourself someone like a business coach or a mentor. You need somebody to hold you accountable. Obviously, you can do this yourself but if you really want someone to hold YOU accountable then hire somebody. Then there is no way that you can get away with not doing it.
It’s so important that you start thinking about the next 10 years. What are the scorecards like? How are you going to judge yourself each year? Ask yourself “where do I want to be at the end of 2021? Where would I be happy? Did I achieve X, Y, or Z?
If you don’t achieve that then you have to repeat, you have to ask yourself “am I ok with repeating the same thing year in year out?” No one would be happy with that. I’ve met many adults where I could photocopy this year and that would be the next ten years of their lives. Why? Because they don’t set goals. They don’t stop and think what does the future hold for me? And they don’t graduate. The quickest way to graduate is to learn more. The difference between where you are now and where you want to be is knowledge. Knowledge gives you the confidence to do things that are outside of your comfort zone.
The only other way to gain knowledge is through experience. If you don’t give new things a try, then you aren’t going to learn from your mistakes. Also, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. One of the best ways to succeed is through learning what not to do. So do yourself a favor and don’t repeat year after year, work on your own graduation certificate for the end of 2021 and beyond. I’m sure you’ll have much more success!
