Entrepreneur, 10-19-2016 -- Everyone fails in life, and failure can be a crushing experience. The only thing that separates successful people from the rest is how they respond after they fail.
When facing obstacles, you have to decide if you’re going to let them be the excuse for your failure or if you’re going to make them the story behind your success.
“There is no failure. Only feedback.” -- Robert Allen
When you adopt the right attitude, failure is a great teacher. Failure interrupts your routine and gives you an opportunity to explore new solutions, but only if you have the right attitude.
Psychologist Albert Bandura conducted a study that showed just how great a role our attitudes play in the face of failure. In the study, two groups of people were asked to complete an identical management task. The first group was told that the purpose of the task was to measure their management abilities. The other group was told that the skills required to complete the task were improvable and that the task was merely an opportunity to practice and improve. The trick was that the researchers made the task so difficult that all participants were bound to fail, and fail they did. The first group -- feeling like failures because their skills weren’t up to snuff -- made little or no improvement when they were given opportunities to repeat the task. The second group, however, saw each failure as a learning opportunity, and they performed at progressively higher levels each time they attempted the task. The second group even rated themselves as more confident than the first group.
Just like the participants in Bandura’s study, we can either view our failures as reflections of our abilities or as opportunities for growth. The next time you catch yourself wallowing in the self-pity that often accompanies failure, focus on what you can control: your attitude.
Some of the best lessons in life are also the toughest to accept and to adopt the right attitude toward. These are the lessons that challenge your flexibility and willingness to learn. When we don’t embrace them soon enough, the lessons we learn turn out to be harsh ones.
Related: 9 Phrases Smart People Never Use In Conversation
1. The first step is always the hardest. When you want to achieve something important, that first step is inevitably going to be daunting, even frightening. When you dare to make that first move, anxiety and fear dissipate in the name of action. People that dive headfirst into taking that brutal first step aren’t any stronger than the rest of us; they’ve simply learned that it yields great results. They know that the pain of getting started is inevitable and that procrastination only prolongs their suffering.
2. Good things take time. Success, above all, requires time and effort. Author Malcolm Gladwell suggested that mastery of anything requires 10,000 hours of tireless focus. Many successful people would agree. Consider Henry Ford, whose first two automobile businesses failed before he started Ford at the age of 45, or author Harry Bernstein, who dedicated his entire life to writing before he finally landed a best-seller at the age of 96. When you finally do succeed, you realize that the journey was the best part of it.
3. Being busy does not equal being productive. Look at everyone around you. They all seem so busy, running from meeting to meeting and firing off e-mails. Yet how many of them are really producing, really succeeding at a high level? Success doesn’t come from movement and activity; it comes from focus -- from ensuring that your time is used efficiently and productively. You get the same number of hours in the day as everyone else, so use yours wisely. After all, you’re the product of your output not your effort. Make certain your efforts are dedicated to tasks that get results.
4. You will always have less control than you want. There are too many extenuating circumstances in life to control every outcome. You can, however, control how you react to things that are out of your control. Your reaction is what transforms a mistake into a learning experience and ensures that a victory doesn’t send your ego through the roof. You can’t win every battle, but with the right attitude, you can win the war.
5. You're only as good as those you associate with. You should strive to surround yourself with people who inspire you, people who make you want to be better. And you probably do. But what about the people who drag you down? Why do you allow them to be part of your life? Anyone who makes you feel worthless, anxious or uninspired is wasting your time and, quite possibly, making you more like them. Life is too short to associate with people like this. Cut them loose.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
Entrepreneur.com, 8-10-2016 -- Working as a senior vice president for a Fortune 100 company and running IT Services for 48,000 end-users on a global scale was a tough job. It was long hours, lots of pressure and difficult customers. But, even so it was nothing compared to joining the ranks of the entrepreneurs and starting my own business.
Here are 10 things I wish I had known before I started as it would have helped me be better prepared for the important first few years of my entrepreneurial life.
1. Don't create new products, solve problems.
Forty-two percent of product launches fail because there is no need for the product. That's right 42 percent fail because nobody wants the product.
So instead of trying to develop new and wonderful products to look for problems to solve. Where there's a problem, there is a need.
2. Forget about being an overnight success.
Even the companies regarded as the quickest overnight successes, Amazon and Yahoo, took at least three years to get there, and the majority of companies take up to 10 years to really make it. So if you're the goal is to be the next billionaire start-up owner then you need to be prepared for a long haul.
Related: 6 Signs You Are Not Ready for Entrepreneurship
3. Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.
Your success is going to come from your strengths so make sure the majority of your time is focused in that area. We all have weaknesses, but either outsources those areas or hire someone to take care of it for you. Focusing on your weaknesses takes you away from what you're best at and is not a good use of your time.
4. Get the right team around you.
We can't do it all on our own; we need help, but we need to make sure we get the right help. Twenty-nine percent of start-ups that fail do so because they had the wrong team in place. So take the necessary time to evaluate the team that you need and then hire the best people you can.
5. If you're going to fail, fail quickly.
Failure is all part of the process, not only should you expect it, but you should plan for it. The best approach for failure is to fail quickly, adapt and try again. One of the worst things we can do is to fail slowly, desperately hoping that things will turn around. You need to learn quickly what's working and what's not that needs to be stopped.
Read the rest of the piece HERE.
A successful career doesn’t just require great ideas and a good work ethic -- it also takes the right people. In order to work well with others, you’ll need to become a pro at leadership and management.
In my 18 years of professional experience, I’ve had to learn a lot of things the hard way. As an entrepreneur, I’m still learning day by day. And while I’ve had a blast learning with my peers, I can’t deny that it would have been helpful to know everything ahead of time. Instead, all I can do is share the knowledge I’ve built over nearly two decades of business ownership and management.
I’m putting these tips right into the palms of your hands, so you don't take 20 years to learn them!
1. Never give up.
It’s cliché, but it’s the best tip I can provide. Entrepreneurship isn’t for the weak-willed and the giver-uppers. Rather, it’s for those who believe enough in their abilities, their ideas and the people they’re proud to call their team. Giving up on a project, no matter how big or small, isn’t just a disservice to yourself -- it’s also a disservice to those you lead.
2. The people around you are everything.
An idea is a hundred times harder to execute when you don’t have the right people by your side. Find the best people possible for your project, and once you do, do anything and everything in your power to keep them.
3. Be both a mentor and a protégé.
The best professional relationships are ones that consist of mutual respect and learning. As a leader, it may be your job to expand on your team’s abilities and knowledge; however, you likely have just as much to learn from them as they do from you.
4. Be strong, not meek.
People have a hard time believing in leaders who don’t quite seem to believe in themselves. Even in times of instability, remain confident and positive. Second-guessing your choices and actions won’t just negatively affect your own attitude, but also those of your team.
5. A growing business requires growing people.
Nearly everyone is a work in progress. A positive professional experience not only involves development, but also a positive attitude on growth and learning. Forgive minor mistakes and strive to teach your team, not to shame them for messing up. Offer opportunities for your followers to learn and become better people. Acknowledge that while you may already be a good leader, you can always become a better one.
6. Failing is a reality -- get comfortable with it.
I’ve never heard of a business that didn’t fail at something. Rather than dreading failure, learn to view it as a learning experience and an opportunity for -- yes, you guessed it -- growth. At the very least, don’t let yourself give up on a project (or even an entire business) just because you’ve faced a couple of failures.
7. Managing people through change is the hardest job you’ll have.
Whether it’s through personal change or environmental change, those you lead are going to struggle to adjust. Be patient and understanding, yet firm in your business’s needs. Be flexible, not a doormat. Finding and maintaining this balance will be one of the hardest jobs you’ll ever have.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
Forbes, 6-30-2016 -- Entrepreneurs who want to launch a new product or service are facing two problems that are continuing to grow in scale – rapidly increasing competition, and shorter life cycles in marketing.
The channels entrepreneurs and businesses were using a decade ago have changed dramatically, and the long-term effectiveness of many of them is diminishing each day as their lifespans collapse.
When Adwords launched, there were years of $0.05 and $0.10 cost-per-clicks because a lot of marketers didn’t know about the platform. And it wasn’t really that long ago that Facebook launched its ad platform, but savvy marketers jumped on board right away. Because of that, Facebook is becoming out of reach for cash-strapped and bootstrapping startups.
Add that to growing competition, and the wins feel like they’re getting harder to achieve. The SaaS market is a prime example. It’s much different now compared to even a few years ago.
You can’t just launch a basic, one-feature app and expect rapid success. You have to offer something innovative – or have an unfair advantage in order to capture attention.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
9-6-2016 -- I co-chair a large local car show that attracts several hundred customs, classics, street rods, and tuner cars. It has been good for my business because these vehicle owners now see me as not only a car audio specialist but also a "car guy". People owning this type of vehicle want to know that the people working on their rides understand and appreciate what they mean to them. It doesn't generate big numbers of vehicles but it does give us the opportunity to work on them and these people usually have a higher disposable income level and will spend money to get the job done right and with quality products. And we get to work on some cool rides. Dave Clews, 12-volt Dave's Audio, Pottsville, Pa.
Sell what you believe in. It makes you appear more honest and sincere. Don't be afraid to give a little; you'll get more than you think. In the last few years we added custom vinyl which has been very successful. Profits are very similar to window tint. We just recently added lift kits and off-road accessories. There is a bid demand for that in our area and it should be profitable. John Draper, Custom Tint & Sound, Covington, Ga.
We should have done an on-site tent sale with great deals for a show. Brian Hampson, Stereo West Autotoys, Omaha, Neb.
I had an ad in a local magazine for a year and didn't get a ROI. Rommel Miranda, Car Audio, Radio & Security, Charleston, S.C.
Social media is required in today's world. Make sure you use it to promote your business. Greg Tackett, Greg's Custom Audio, Video & Car Stereo, Pikeville, Ky.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
8-21-2016 -- Everyone wants success. But are you willing to change?
Without change, there can be no growth. And in order to get what you’ve never had, you must become someone you've never been. Before you go into the woods, you'll need a map. Rest assured others have forged the route before you. Their experiences can help guide you to your own best you.
Live forward by making a life plan.
With "Living Forward: A Proven Plan To Stop Drifting And Get The Life You Want," authors Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy help you begin to become the architect of your own life. Most of us make plans for everything -- vacations, dinner, our children's school functions. But rarely does a person make a life plan. If I asked you to summarize your life plan, could you tell me? Probably not.
If you finally want to live with more intention and purpose in your life or become an entrepreneur now and not later, then your extraordinary life is on the other side of your life-planning design process.
"Living Forward" offers solid advice in several key areas:
- Understanding why you need a plan (because as humans, we drift and get distracted).
- Learning how to create your life plan beginning with the end in mind (answering, "What legacy do you want to leave behind?").
- Making it happen (triaging your calendar and scheduling your priorities).
Many of us see change as threatening. Some even regard it as the destroyer of what is familiar and comfortable rather than the creator of what is new and exciting. Unfortunately, comfort is the enemy of excellence.
“For the timid, change is frightening, for the comfortable, change is threatening, but for the confident, change is opportunity," motivational speaker Nido Qubein writes in "Stairway to Success: The Complete Blueprint for Personal and Professional Achievement."
Decide what you'll do with your current opportunity. In order to grow and achieve new heights in your life, you must make a commitment to change. Focus your attention on growing in areas that will add personal and professional value. Don’t let your comfort zone kill the excellence within your reach. Make your life plan today.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
Entrepreneur -- You can tell a soon-to-fail entrepreneur by the tired, haggard look in his eyes. Like extras from "The Walking Dead," they stumble around looking not entirely alive.
Because they aren’t.
Despite covariance in the rate of startup failures with overworked CEOs, the problem persists. Some founders are fanatical when bragging that they work 60 to 80 hour weeks. Their sense of building “sweat equity” blinds them to the sacrifices they make -- to their health, to their marriages, to their families and communities. What they mistake as a successful lifestyle is actually a massive failure.
Related: Here's Why the 8-Hour Workday Doesn't Work
Personal fatigue.
People are not designed for 80-hour work weeks, at least not over the long term.
Various studies show that we humans operate efficiently for maybe 10 hours a day, and that is if you sleep well, eat right and exercise regularly. As you will quickly see, attempting to work more than 10 hours is an exercise in diminishing returns, as it keeps you from being at your peak performance for those 10 top hours.
Most people need a solid eight hours of sleep to rejuvenate. This leaves 16 waking hours in a day. A fair amount of that time is spent in maintenance: eating, bathing, brushing teeth, walking dogs and other mundanities. Subtract also from these 16 available hours the minimal family interaction and duty time (driving kids to school), special events (seeing your doctor for that chest pain that has been nagging you), your commute time (which for most people is non-productive). Pretty soon, you may only have 10 hours in a day to do real work.
The only ways you can do more is to either work seven days a week (and that only buys you a maximum of 20 extra hours of productivity) or you skip doing those things called life. You ignore your spouse, miss your kid’s soccer game, renege on volunteer work, avoid the gym and live on fast food since you don’t have time for real food. With this lifestyle you soon won’t have a spouse, won’t see your kids because they live with your ex, are mutually ignored by people in your community -- and you will be found dead of a heart attack with a McDonald’s sack clenched in your fist.
Related: Working Long Hours Could Kill You
Why entrepreneurs work too hard.
Impatience is a universal trait with entrepreneurs. They have a vision and want to achieve it before the weekend. They also lean toward perfectionism, and pay close attention to the myriad of details in their business. Between wanting it done now and wanting it done right, they often choose to do it themselves. All of it.
But life doesn’t work that way. You don’t scale that far. Yet you start down the road of overworking yourself because you make many of the common entrepreneur mistakes:
- You don’t prioritize: Not everything is equally important, and you let B’s get in front of A’s.
- You don’t tackle "Tough Things First": Dread of big problems and distasteful tasks keep you from launching important initiatives.
- You don’t delegate: Fear of other people not performing tasks the way you think they should be done causes you to micromanage or otherwise add to your workload.
- You obsess over unimportant details: You cannot get your head out of the weeds long enough to see that the grass needs mowing.
- Read the rest of the story HERE.
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