Over twenty-five years as a CPA in public accounting has afforded me the opportunity to study the inner workings of thousands of micro businesses.
I have been able to identify patterns between successful entrepreneurs and some not so successful entrepreneurs.
What I have learned is that success has less to do with the state of the economy and present circumstances, including the lack of capital, and more to do with how you think and do certain things.
Now: Everything I do is Designed to Transform Micro Businesses into Valuable Assets by Creating Structure, Opportunities and Financial Stability.
my writing, website, blog, social media accounts, etc.
Are all manifestations of the above statement.
Each and everyday the way I think and do certain things is helping make me and the people around me more successful.
I believe strongly that if you incorporate these simple principles into your thinking and way of doing things will do the same for you.
1: TAKE MONEY OUT OF THE EQUATION Forget about the money! I don't mean to literally forget about it, just don't make it your focus.
Look, it's a fact that you want and need money.
Unless you're the next Mother Theresa (and even she needed money for her cause), you need lots and lots of money.
If you live where I live you probably need more money than most and if you have any kids, you need even more money.
You want to buy things, own things, get out of debt, go places, help your family and friends..
..
...
this all takes money, a lot of it.
So why state the obvious? One of the first tasks I ask new clients to complete is to list all of their personal and business goals.
On just about every list is the goal to make xxxx amount of $$$$.
Let's just assume that we all want plenty of money.
The truth is that even the Internal Revenue Service states that if you are not in this for the money you are not a business.
They will classify your "business" as a hobby.
That's a fact and you can look it up.
So let's start by making a few assumptions: 1: You're reading this because you are in a business or thinking about going into one.
2: You want to make lots of money in this business.
the truth is that money and success are results and should not be your sole focus.
When you operate on a purely profit basis you stop focusing on the product or service you are providing.
When you don't focus on what's truly important you stop being the best you can possibly be.
I have a client that does stand up comedy for a living.
He called before one of his shows complaining that the venue was underpaying him.
He planned on tanking the show to "teach them a lesson".
My advice was TAKE $ OUT OF THE EQUATION.
Just do what you do to the best of your ability.
Once he was released from the SHORT TERM profit motive he felt at ease and gave a great performance.
As a RESULT, he sold a lot more CD's after the show than usual.
The extra sales more than made up for the "low" paying job.
The owners of the venue were impressed and the next time they ask him to work he will be a the position of asking for more money.
2: BECOME A TEACHER Anyone who as ever taught anything knows that with each lesson they become better and more knowledgeable about the subject.
A few years ago I developed a remote bookkeeping course for individuals that wanted to do some part-time work from home.
As a CPA with over twenty-five years of experience I thought that the subject would be elementary and a little boring.
The exercise forced me to look at all of the new technologies and processes that have developed over the years.
I had to be able to explain, in simple terms how the new ways of doing business can be incorporated into a bookkeeping system.
Students with no bookkeeping experience started asking questions that forced me to look at things differently.
Things I had taken for granted and thought were obvious provided a new perspective.
My teaching experience helped me form a new marketing message for my bookkeeping services.
I no longer assumed that everyone knew what I knew and each opportunity to explain my business and what I do became another opportunity to teach.
I realized that I did not need to have the formal classroom structure to be a teacher, or a student.
The smart business person does not just want problems fixed, they want to understand it and learn from it.
Business, it turns out, is a never ending classroom.
I believe now, that when you stop learning you stop advancing and in business that can be fatal.
Today I view every interaction as a learning opportunity and when I am the teacher I am also my most important student.
3: INCORPORATE GOOD HEALTHY HABITS INTO YOUR BUSINESS In the book The Science of Getting Rich-Wallace Wattles states that success is a result of doing things a certain way.
What? I don't understand? What is a certain way? What I have learned is that the first step towards success has more to do with the way we think and act then our present circumstances.
If you believe you are struggling because of the economy you will continue to struggle.
If you believe you can be successful no matter what, you can be successful.
So how do you change from the negative thinking to the positive thinking? You start with very little things we call habits.
I have found that you can decide to think more positive but until you start DOING positive things the thinking can only take you so far.
The thinking has to be manifested into action! The easiest way for me to test this theory was my actions when I woke up in the morning.
Instead of going right to my computer to check my email, I decided to make my bed.
Within the first minute of waking my bed was made.
That little action gave me a small sense of accomplishment and the feeling that things can be different.
In the beginning when I woke up I had to think "oh yeah, I'm suppose to make my bed".
After a while I just started doing it automatically.
It became a habit.
I took that concept into my business.
I started spending the last fifteen minutes of each work day clearing my desk.
Again, it gave me a small sense of accomplishment but more important, when I came in the next day it was a relief to come into a nice, neat comfortable office.
What a great way to start the day.
Coming into a clean, well organized office, opposed to walking into a pile of yesterdays paperwork and clutter.
Over time, a lot of these little things I was doing a certain way started to manifest in my attitude and appearance.
I had more confidence and enthusiasm.
That new-found energy emanated and the people around me felt it.
When you think about it, business is a never ending set of cycles.
Each cycle is composed of a series of interactions and each interaction is the result of an action and every action starts with a thought.
Now, if you put yourself in the position of having good positive thoughts and positive actions you have increased your chances of success exponentially.