A few weeks ago, when I asked you if we could have a private conversation - 'What two questions would you ask me?', many came back with the theme being around mindset, belief and confidence, and how can you think differently to have greater success within your business. 

I was reminded of an article I had written last year after sitting in on a Mastermind Call with Rich Schefren of Strategic Profits, who is very highly respected in his work with entrepreneurs in the area of The Theory of Constraints. 

And wanted to share with you the following quote that I read within one of his report:

“The potential growth and profitability of my business depends on what I put into it.  The actual growth and profitability of my enterprise will be determined by the things that limit or cancel my return on that investment.  Only when I eliminate my constraints – the things that block my path – will my actual success rise to the level of my potential success.”   Rich Schefren

He then goes on to discuss three types of constraints that you can have in your business. The first being Rational Constraints, the second is Procedural Constraints and the third is Self-Imposed Constraints. It is this third constraint that I want to touch on in this article.

Self-Imposed Constraints – necessary conditions and rules that exist only in your mind!

What are the conditions and rules that you have placed on yourself, and how do these conditions and rules stop you from reaching your full potential?

We all have our stories, some of them are there to support us, some are there to protect us, and yes, some are there to hinder us. Is there a story that you are currently telling yourself that is in fact preventing you from moving forward? That is stopping you from being that one barrier away from success?

What is your story? Take a moment to write down the stories you keep telling yourself that are limiting you from reaching your full business potential. Once you have written them down, notice how you feel and ask yourself the following questions: “Does this story serve me well?” What is the purpose of this story for me?” For example: If I don’t change my story, I can’t fail. Nothing ventured, nothing lost.

Then decide which stories you don’t need anymore. Writing them down is one thing, getting rid of them is quite another. Deciding which stories no longer fit you can be as difficult as trying to cull your wardrobe! You know you should get rid of some of your things, especially that white double-breasted jacket with big shoulder pads that keeps staring back at you when you open your wardrobe each morning. It’s the same with your story: you keep it when you don’t need it any more. Some stories may have been with you for years. Despite the fact that they may be holding you back, you find them comfortable and familiar and you insist on continually telling them. Although, it is worth acknowledging that your stories sometimes hold you back as a form of protection, they may be there to stop you from failing, from making sure you don’t overload yourself or from gaining true success. However, if you want true success then you need to change your story.

Make room for a new story - one that will support exactly what it is you want in your business and in your life. Just as deciding to get rid of your old stories can be like culling your wardrobe, taking on a fresh story can be like restocking your wardrobe with exciting new clothes. So take a moment now and write your new story. Write it as if you are living it now. Once you are clear on your new story, start to tell yourself this story everyday. How does this new story feel? Does it serve you better?

Remember, that we are really only limited by our own thoughts.  The greatest battle we often have is the batte between our ears!

Let's continue the conversation on our blog or our facebook page, and please share with us your thoughts around your very own Self-Imposed Constraints!

Be a leader, not a business owner!

Leadership I believe is one of the critical links to business success, yet often as small business owners we can struggle to see ourselves as a leader. We see ourselves as a business owner, as a doer in our business, as a motivator of staff (if we have any). It is something that needs to be focused on.

Leadership is about developing a vision, about developing your personal vision of success for you both professionally and personally.

I want to share with you four questions that I have used frequently over the past 10 years with my clients. These are very simple questions that I heard from a keynote speaker at a conference I attended years ago. These questions will help you to build your personal framework around being a leader.

1 . How do you see yourself as a leader?

Ask yourself: What is your leadership point of view?
How would you describe your leadership style?
What matters to you in terms of your leadership?
Do you see yourself as a leader?

2. How do others see you?

Ask yourself: Do you know?
Do you care?
Are you right? (i.e. is your information accurate?)
How do you assess this every day of the week?

Note: Some of the best leaders are extremely conscious of how people see them. They ask for feedback frequently and evaluate it. They think about it daily and ask themselves:
“Is what I mean being perceived the way I intended”? “ If not, how do I need to change my message?”

3. How do you want to be seen?

This involves needs and values. If we don’t know the needs and values we are driven by, they can wreak havoc in our environment. The best leaders are in pursuit of respect first and popularity second.

4. How must and should you be seen to be effective?

If you don’t know this, then working with a mentor can help you look at the gaps and help you to see what you need to do tomorrow to be seen as more effective.

Once you've answered the questions above, and if you're ready for it, I'd like to share with you an exercise that I do each year around December time. 

It's an exercise that one of my Lecturer's recommended we do, when I was studying for my Masters Degree, and it's again a tool that has always stuck with me.

It's interesting because it's an exercise I would always use with my corporate clients, and these where in some cases jaded Senior Executives and CEO's who didn't feel as if they had much control over their lives.  At times they would resist this exercise, but the ones who took the time out and completed it, always feed back how profound they found it.

When I moved my focus back to small business owners for some reason I stopped asking my clients to look at this exercise.  I'm not sure why?  But after my recent realisation that I had stopped leading my business, I looked at my current letter to the future, and it helped me regain my balance, and now I would like you to try it out...

Here's how it works:

Writing Your Letter To The Future

Find a quiet space to begin, and have your journal (or a piece of paper) in hand.  

• Write the date that is into the future.  I normally do 31st December, speaking about what has happened in the year.
• Write a salutation (greeting) to yourself.
• Start of with your first paragraph explaining the reason you are writing the letter to yourself.
• Then go into what has happened for you in the past twelve months - be specific!  For each part of your life, create a new paragraph.  The more specific you are, the more real it is.  Take time to develop this letter.  Once you feel that your letter is complete...
• Sign off on your letter.

Place your letter in a safe place, ready to be read at that time in the future.

As always, please feel free to share with me your experience in writing your letter to the future.

Want to use this Article?

I would be honoured if you did, just be sure to use it in full and include the following information:

Deb Pilgrim helps you start, grow and lead your business, so that you can create the life you want. When you work with Deb, you get the results you always knew you could!  To find out more about how you can work with Deb visit her website, and whilst you are there download her latest report that will show you how to be one of the Top 5% of Entrepreneurs who succeed.

We're all on the same playing field....right?

If that’s so, then what makes one business owner more successful than another? I was thinking about this today,  after speaking with one of my mentor clients – let's call her Liz.  During our call today, she was reflecting on the difference that our work together had made on her business the past three months.  For me, it was very humbling to be there on the other end of the phone, listening to her reflect on what our working relationship meant to her.

Liz had asked me to work with her at a time when her sense of hope was failing.  Her business had hit rock bottom, she had sold her family home, and taken on two more jobs to pay back creditors, just so she could keep her family fed.

After listening to her story, I agreed to work with her.  At our first face-to-face meeting, we spoke about how we would work together, and established our guidelines for success. Our expectations were that she would do everything she committed to in our calls, and I would do everything I could to support her. We agreed that if nothing had changed by the end of 2010, she would close the doors and walk away. Liz left that meeting with the first of her action steps….

I remember going home that night and sitting at my desk thinking:  “Can this turn-around happen?”.  “By agreeing to work with her, am I giving her false hope?".  There have been times previously, when after having my first meeting with new clients, I have decided not to move ahead and work with them.

However, there was something about Liz that made me believe she could turn her business around. 

Was it tenacity, was it belief, or was it a desire to succeed, and change the tide?  I think it was all of these things and more, but I also think it was having someone who believed in her and the legacy she wanted to create. Someone who would hold the space for her, and give her honest feedback in the process.

Liz was the one who took the very first step to change and grow her business by engaging a mentor.  After each call, she walked away with, and committed to her action list.  Step by step, things began to change. 

Some of the areas that we focused on included re-establishing monthly financial targets for the business to meet, identifying referral partners, and organising one-on-one meetings. A step-by-step marketing plan was developed that included both on-line and off-line strategies.  A communication plan was developed and implemented.  Everything was tracked and if something wasn’t working, then changes were made.

Liz was totally committed, and put everything into making sure that the turnaround occurred.  Everything we spoke about was implemented, and action was taken straight away.  At times there was a sense of being overwhelmed, there was exhaustion, but still there was hope.  As each call progressed, I began to hear the difference in her voice, her language had changed and a lightness began to appear.  Things were beginning to turnaround.

As things stand now, Liz is not out of the woods completely, but three months on, she is now working in her business.  She’s paid off all outstanding debts, and has started taking a wage from her business again.  She’s there in the morning to get her kids ready for school, and in the evenings to have dinner with them all. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m going to let you in on a secret:  What we did wasn’t rocket science; in fact it was an easy, step-by-step, practical, results driven process.  It’s what we all need to do to have successful businesses.  I often hear other business owners who aren’t running successful businesses say, “Yeah, I know this stuff already.".

But do you want to know the difference between them and my mentor client?

She implemented it all, she took action and she believed in what she was doing.  She didn't sit back and say, "I know this stuff already.". Liz took it all on board and now has a proven process that she can continue to use.  2011 is going to be her year for building a stronger, more successful business - mark my word on this!

I’m going to make a presumption here – you’re in business to make money, right?

Then, if your business hasn’t grown in the past year, wouldn’t it make sense to make changes around what you are currently doing?

Let’s acknowledge that the internal conflict we have around change is real, it is also normal and it can be very scary.  The fear of not knowing can hold you where you are.  But is that where you really want to stay, doing the same thing over and over, and all that is really changing are the days…

Probably not!  It’s time to dip your toes into the water of change. 

Block out time this week and commit to really looking at the way you do business. Ask yourself:

“Is my current way of thinking serving me?”.

“Am I achieving the results I really want?”. 

If not, than it’s time to make some changes. My guess is that you already  know what you need to be doing differently.  Make a list of the things you want to change, and then be willing to move further along the left of the continuum of change.  In fact, challenge yourself to do something different within your business, your life or the way you think in 2011.  Just be willing to make changes, open your mind to the possibilities that when put into action, blast your business forward out of stagnation.

What really do you have to lose? 

A thought to consider: By letting go, you actually gain!