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IT ISN’T HOW TO WRITE a business plan, how many staff to hire, or how to budget. There are obviously things like this to learn when running a business, however, the most important questions start before you get to that point.Ask yourself – WHY do I want to be self employed? It isn’t enough to say you don’t like your boss. Although that may be a trigger that sets your entrepreneurial wheels in motion, it has to be more than that. So you don’t like your boss. Join the crowd….most don’t. So what makes your situation different and why are you leaving the perceived safety of having a job, to starting your own business? Take some time to think about this from your heart and take the time to really think this through. An example of how this could look: (you may want to print this page off, so you can go through this properly when you have time)
I don’t like my boss”List all the reasons you have made this statement
These questions will uncover to you the real reason you want to start a business. It is very revealing when you take the time to go through this exercise. Understanding why you want to become a business owner, and what brought you to this spot will assist you in deciding what type of business to start. Too often people choose a business because they really don’t know what else to do and they have not done this preliminary reflecting. For instance, a person may start a franchise. They don’t realize the limitations and long hours they would be putting in, and the amount of time it will take to pay off that investment. That may not be the solution they actually wanted. This person may want a business to stop working the long hours they are putting in at their job. To start a franchise that will require long hours would not be the best solution to achieve the goal of more family time, and will most likely cause even more stress and frustration for the individual and their family, because that would also require a substantial investment. Thisleaves the franchise owner feeling like they have to work long hours to pay off the investment. To make a better choice, look at the answers to the questions that have a * beside them. It’s important to identify what you are not happy with, what you really love, your underlying motivating factor (as in being with your family more), what’s truly important, ideas, interests, skills, passions and experience. This will allow you to explore from the heart the direction you should be taking. You will find answers here that you hadn’t previously considered. This will allow you to do work that is meaningful and fulfilling to you. You will truly understand the real reasons you are taking this step and be able to make better choices. You don’t learn these things in business school. This comes from real world experience, from those that have walked the walk, been through the challenges, learned from their mistakes, overcome adversity and those that have been willing to do what ti takes for as long as it takes. If you are contemplating entrepreneurship, take the time to think these things through…you will be happier with the outcome. Editor’s Note: Listen now to Debbie’s PODCAST on this important topic: As posted on http://bizcatalyst360.com/what-are-the-most-overlooked-questions-new-entrepreneurs-forget-to-ask-themselves-2/
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 I came across an article in the Business Insider about the bankruptcy of a celebrity - 50 Cent, a famous rapper.
The interesting thing about this story is NOT that he was worth around $155 million, or that he has been mega successful in business, thanks to his minority stake in Vitamin Water. In 2007, the Coca-Cola company acquired Vitamin Glaceau for 4.1 billion. It is also NOT about the fact that he has sold over 21 million albums. Nor is it that he was ordered to pay $5 million to his rival Rick Ross' ex-girlfriend, who sued him for posting a sex tape online to millions o viewers in an attempt to embarrass Ross. Although this may be interesting news to some, the truly interesting message in this story that no one has addressed, and most will miss, is that it is a lack of ethics, values, integrity, personal responsibility and leadership, that would allow him to take such an action. Personal ego has also obviously gotten in the way. We hear all the time of people in life and in business, making it big...business success, winning lotteries, etc., and yet years later many end up broke or bankrupt. How can this possibly happen? It boils down to living your life by principles and values that produce success in business, relationships, everything that is a part of our lives. When people enter into success and start enjoying "never having to worry about money", if they do not change the mindset they had in their previous life when they struggled, the money will not make any difference, and it will be temporary. Success can be pulled out from under the individual quickly, or it may take years to catch up as we have seen in the recent Bill Cosby situation. We cannot bring about better results in our lives with the thinking that brought us to this point. Equally we cannot maintain any new found success with old thinking. If we maintain the same mindset as someone who struggles with money and we win the lottery, within a few years, many lose what they won. If we do not treat peole with respect when we don't have money, and then experience success as many celebrities do, eventually that success will fall apart. We have all heard the phrase growing up "they are filthy rich". It is such a negative, derogatory comment describing people with wealth. Wealth is not bad. It is people with wealth that act poorly based on their ego, a lack of ethics, values, integrity, personal responsibility and leadership that can give wealth a bad "rap". This can happen just as easily with someone that has no wealth. It is the person, not the money. Why would any good human being want to publicly embarrass anyone, or do harm to someone? Why would anyone with wealth wish any bad fortune on someone else, or take advantage of someone? This is a mentality of revenge and control, and can never produce a positive result. Part of the responsibility of being a wealthy person, or a success in life, is knowing the importance of reaching back to help others. This isn't about money. It is about sharing what you have learned to help others succeed, or, helping others see what is possible for their lives by being the inspiration they can follow. A positive example of this is demonstrated here by singer Michael Buble. He demonstrates wonderfully how you can use your success to lift others up and help them find/live into their potential. It is about taking a stand for what is right, what is good, and not being a follower. It is about being a good person that makes a difference to your immediate community and world around you. Success come with personal responsibility. This is a huge missing link for many that don't recognize they need to change the way they think. Revenge comes from a mindset that there is only so much "pie" or, money to go around. This comes from a poverty mindset, not a mindset of wealth and success. Equally those that attempt to "control" others are coming from a place of ego and power. If that mindset doesn't change, experiencing wealth will be temporary. A person that has not had success, but manages to create financial success, but doesn't change their ways, will not have long term success. It will be fleeting. This is why we see many that win the lottery run out of money and end right back where they started. A good person that becomes successful usually recognizes that they now have a higher level of personal responsibility and leadership to strive for. They understand how to use their success to influence in a positive direction. As featured on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/what-can-we-learn-from-others-failures-debbie-ruston/edit Debbie Ruston has been an entrepreneur and trainer since 1986. She works with individuals, and groups interested in developing their entrepreneurial leadership mindset. Was this article of value to you? Feel free to share it on your social networks and with your contacts, join in the discussion below, and FOLLOW her on the top right corner of this page. Debbie's also on: FB YouTube G+https://plus.google.com/+DebbieRuston-TheSuccessEducatorAnd now on iTunes HAVE YOU EVER HAD an idea for a business, but talked yourself out of it for one reason or another? Perhaps someone well meaning in your life, gave you advice and you listened to their advice, instead of your own heart. Perhaps you were afraid of failing, or even succeeding and what that would bring with it, and talked yourself out of it. Perhaps you think you have to wait for the perfect time.Many people go through their entire lives putting things off that are important to them using this excuse. These people tend to feel stressed, unhappy, a lack of control, and unfulfilled, yet don’t realize the cause is they are putting off what they truly want to be doing. I have learned in life and in business, there will never be a perfect time. There will always be something that challenges us, and we think it would just be better, or easier, to wait for that perfect time. When we are young, we can tell ourselves we don’t have enough experience and to wait until we do. By then we have children, and the excuse becomes, we are too busy with the kids, or we don’t have the money needed. Once the kids are old enough, we often have aging parents that we become responsible for. There are births, deaths, illnesses, hobbies, responsibilities. This is LIFE. Successful entrepreneurs learn to work around all of this and don’t wait for that perfect time.
How can we get around this and accelerate the result we truly want? Make a decision and commit to it. It is the lack of decision and commitment to what you truly want, that causes people to have regrets. Decide what you want, what you need to do to make it happen, and take action. Don’t let fear stop you. Recognize and identify when fear is getting in the way and take control. Ask yourself better questions…for example, instead of “what if I fail”, ask yourself “what if I succeed, what difference would that make in my life”. When you learn to ask better questions, you find internal motivation and inspiration. Stop being afraid to take a risk. We are so conditioned to steer clear of risk and there is so much fear built into taking risk in society. EVERYTHING is a risk. Asking someone on a date, falling in love, working a job, driving, everything we do can be considered a risk. RE-frame how you think about risk – I wrote an article about this that may help. As I mentioned, RISK can be reframed to Responsibly Implementing Specialized Knowledge. Don’t let obstacles get in the way. These could be personal or business related obstacles. The key is not to look at them as a stop sign, but instead, find the way around the obstacle. There is always a solution! Be solution oriented. As I mentioned, there is always a solution. People become discouraged when they look at challenges as a stop sign. When challenges arise, ask yourself better questions, such as what can I do to get around this? We only find solutions to old challenges by asking better, or new questions, not by rehashing the old. Surround yourself with positive, successful people that share the same type of vision you have. No one gets ahead by surrounding themselves with those that just want to settle in life….you must be willing to break away from where you are to get to where you want to go. Very often it is the discussions you have with those that are also stuck in life that keep you where you are. If these individuals are settling for whatever comes their way, and complaining about their lack of results, you will find yourself buying into these beliefs. When you surround yourself with driven, successful people, you will gain inspiration from your interaction with them. Stop using money as an excuse. It isn’t the money that is stopping you. It is the lack of decision, desire and commitment. When something is important enough, you find a way. If you are working a job and your car dies and you need it to get to work, you figure it out….most of us have been there. Why would you go out on a limb to borrow money for a car you can’t afford, to work for an employer that could lay you off, yet you wouldn’t commit to finding a way to raise the funds necessary to start your own business. Start giving yourself a higher level of respect and trust than you give your employer and stop selling yourself short. Continue to learn & grow. Successful people from all walks of life, continue to learn and grow. The more we work on our minds, the more we open ourselves up to new and exciting options. Those that do not make continued learning a priority are left behind. There is never going to be a “perfect” time…..the time is perfect when you take action and are willing to do what it takes to create the success you envision. As published on: http://bizcatalyst360.com/are-you-waiting-for-the-perfect-time-to-start-a-business/ WE GROW UP with phrases like “don’t get your hopes up”, “be realistic”, “be happy with what you have”. This causes so many people in life to think small. These type of phrases are dis-empowering when it comes to creating success in any area of life.
A new entrepreneur decides to start a business. Although they want success, they have these word tracks going through their mind…..I don’t want to get my hopes up in case I fail, I have to be realistic with what I can achieve, I have to be happy with what I have. These words tracks do not empower a person to think out of the box, to break down limitations, to strive for what is possible. These word tracks cause a person to settle, to buy into mediocrity, to give into fears and limiting beliefs. This is no way to start a business and a reminder that an entrepreneur MUST be willing to identify and change their thinking. Successful entrepreneurs think very differently than those that don’t have success. Those that don’t have success are usually thinking like an employee. I am in the middle of planning our daughter’s wedding and being exposed to some new discussions on social media. I saw a post from someone selling something for a wedding ceremony. She had about 5 offers from people that wanted to “rent” it from her, not buy it. She kept ignoring the requests. Then one person said, it looks like you have a little business starting for yourself. Did the seller even think of this? Instead of selling the item for the amount she was asking, had she thought about renting it, over and over and creating a revenue stream? Why couldn’t she see this? Had she even considered it? Or was she just thinking, I have to make X amount of money back on this item, instead of bigger picture thinking on how she could take something small, and build it into something bigger? Does she understand the concept of invest in something once, and have it generate revenue over and over? Someone is working a job they hate and something better comes along but they don’t go after it. Why would anyone settle like this? Are they thinking “I should just be happy with what I have”, or, “I have 3 wks holiday, I don’t want to go back to 2 wks”, or other dis-empowering thoughts, instead of, how they would be so much happier, have more advancement potential perhaps, learn something new, and can work back up to 3 wks holiday. How about freelancing for several clients providing this service, and take as many holidays as you want! It amazes me how often I speak to people who absolutely hate what they do, yet do nothing about it…just settle for what they have and complain about it. These individuals could make a change or even take their knowledge, skills, passions, interests, experience and go out on their own starting their own businesses. Without bigger picture thinking, they never even consider it. Playing small in life and in business does not move you forward or allow you to grow. It has you stay in the same place. To experience what you are truly capable of, start expanding your thinking, think out of the box, and challenge yourself to think bigger….when you think bigger you find possibilities you never dreamed possible, and also prove to yourself what you are truly capable of. As published on: http://bizcatalyst360.com/bigger-picture-thinking-to-create-success-as-an-entrepreneur/  Many people are not aware of the deep rooted thoughts and beliefs they have going on in their minds. We will often hear others say things like "it's just the way I am", or, "you can't help the way you think", or, the ever popular, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks".
I strongly disagree with these statements. We are the way we are because of what we have learned up to this point. Much of what we learn is dis-empowering, and limits us in what we are capable of. Many don't realize how much this past conditioning is holding them back in their lives today. The words we have heard penetrate our subconscious, and come up again and again as fears and limiting beliefs, although many just think "it's just the way I am, or the way I think". You CAN learn to identify this and start REprogramming your thinking. Every time you think a new thought, a new neural connector is formed in your brain. The old thoughts (old neural connectors) will be stronger and override the new thoughts, however, for those with a strong enough desire, the old thoughts CAN be minimized and you can learn to make the new (more productive) thoughts your dominate thought. Think for a moment about something you are really not attempting to remember. It could be a song you heard growing up. You hear it playing and it may have been years since you heard it, yet, you can sing every word. Did you attempt to remember the words? Not likely, but you do. You can do this little exercise with them songs from old shows you watched as a kid, or commercials. Over and over you can recall the words, even it if has been a couple of decades. This is a simple but powerful example of the power of thought and how it sticks even when we are not attempting to make it stick. I had a very powerful experience several years ago....I heard Dr. Joe Dispenza speak about neural connectors in the brain, and learning how we can form new neural connectors (thought) that will assist us in creating the results we are looking for. Take a look at this short video CLIP that demonstrates new thought forming a new neural connector in the brain...it is fascinating! Here is another clip that is more of an animated demonstration...pay particular attention from the 1:38 mark that demonstrates this HERE This is something that applies to all aspects of our lives. I am grateful I have an understanding of this and am always fascinated by the process. I have become an observer of my thoughts and although old thoughts will crop up from time to time, I have learned to simply observe a thought that may not be supporting the direction I want my life to unfold in, and consciously replace it with a more productive thought. When I observe this, I am reminded of how powerful thought is and how much control we actually do have over our thoughts. In order to truly change, you must learn to think greater than your circumstances. We are capable of reprogramming our thoughts to create better results in all aspects of our lives. It starts with having an awareness of the limitations we have bought into, and then a willingness to work on ourselves and working on our minds to improve our lives. If that strong desire is not present, we continue buy into our fears, limiting beliefs and past conditioning, believing 'that's just the way we are", etc. When you understand the science behind this, it wakes you up to recognize that you are fully capable of changing your thoughts to create better results for yourself. This applies to business, relationships, health, fitness...every single aspect of our lives. It is empowering to recognize and understand that WE are holding the "steering wheel" of our mind. We can choose to take control of that steering wheel at any moment, or continue to live on "autopilot" and allow the noise of what we have learned to think to control our lives in a direction that doesn't fulfill us. It is a choice. Anyone can make the choice to REeducate themselves to think in a more productive, on purpose way. It does take work, but it is far less work than going through all the disappointments that arise because of fears, limiting beliefs and past conditioning. As published on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/do-beliefs-hold-us-back-debbie-ruston?published=t Debbie Ruston has been an entrepreneur and trainer since 1986. She works with individuals, and groups interested in developing their entrepreneurial leadership mindset. Was this article of value to you? Feel free to share it on your social networks and with your contacts, join in the discussion below, and FOLLOW her on the top right corner of this page. Debbie's also on: FB YouTube G+https://plus.google.com/+DebbieRuston-TheSuccessEducatorAnd now on iTunes |
AuthorDebbie Ruston - Entrepreneur - International Trainer, Visionary Leader 
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