What is the easiest way to grow a thriving business that just keeps getting easier?
The answer is simple, yet most business owners and entrepreneurs get so caught up in their day to day grind that they don’t do it.
Are you Ready?
The answer is… (Drum Roll)… You invest in it’s leader… You! You invest in yourself.
In other words allow yourself to grow, intellectually, personally and spiritually. However you do it, pick what’s right for you. Pick them all. The best business owners are well rounded in every aspect of their lives.
As entrepreneurs we focus so much of our time on the small urgent tasks that we forget that we are our businesses greatest asset.
Here are 5 easy things you can do that will increase your personal investment as well as grow your ability to run a productive life.
1. Read Books
Read a book on business, marketing, your trade, another entrepreneur, a biography, a skill, or self development. There are so many options out there and a few of my favourites are, The $100 Startup, How to Talk to Anyone, Lean Branding, ReWork, Screw it Let’s Do it ( By Richard Branson), From Good to Great, The Purple Cow, Positioning, The Psychology of Persuasion, Hey Whipple Squeeze this , and The Magic of Thinking Big! Amongst others.
2. Take courses, many courses.
Did you know the online education market is supposed to hit $100 billion this year. That means there are more courses and more training packages offered online than you can shake a very large stick at. It also means that you have no excuse for not learning something that will expand your way of thinking and bring more value to yourself and your company. Check out this link here where you can pick up so much online training (for free) that it will knock your socks off. For paid community driven training check out Lynda.com or appsumo.com.
3. Attend a conference or a weekend workshop.
Go out and meet the people who have gone before you. Learn from people in your industry, already making big moves and doing big things. You can find conferences everywhere and you never know what you can learn from people right in your community. We often think that if they’re from our city that they’re not worth the cost of admission. However, you would be incredibly surprised at the amount of insight business owners in your city have about local opportunities and they’re usually willing to share if you’re willing to ask.
4. Take time for you and your family.
The greatest way to invest in yourself is to allow yourself to recover from work. Tony Schwarts from the energy project says that through studying elite athletes they have figured out what sets the top 1% apart from the rest of the competition. It’s their ability to recover fast. Mentally and physically.
They have also discovered that by working in 90 minute uninterrupted cycles we business owners can maximize our recovery time and increase our productivity. Giving ourselves recovery time for even ½ an hour in between each cycle allows our brains to reset and get ready for the next highly productive cycle.
Check them out over at theEnergyproject.com
Creating Recovery time where you disconnect and do something you love rather than work, chores, or something you dislike is the greatest way to increase your productivity and increase your ability to effectively grow and run your business.
5. Visualize Your Success.
This may come as a surprise to you, and you may find it a bit woo woo. But many of the top leaders in every industry understand the power of visualization and meditation. We create in this world what we visualize and imagine in our minds. Steve Jobs was famous for it.
Roderick Damian says that by taking 2 to 3 minutes a couple of times per day to visualize the lifestyle we want, we will create the connections in our subconscious and that will guide us where we want to go in life. He also recommends to watch the movie “The Secret” as it’s a great starting point. – you can find it on Netflix.
Another huge subconscious area to address is limiting beliefs. These are thoughts that are grounded in how we were raised, our experiences growing up and what we have been told by others. They are the root of our procrastinations and they hold back our growth in areas that allow us to take the next step in our businesses.
An old business partner of mine used to say “People don’t do that”, whenever it was something he wasn’t comfortable doing. To grow your business you have to do what people don’t do. Entrepreneurs only make up 5% of the population and only 1% of those are truly successful.
Take a moment and think of your limiting beliefs, what society has told you that you shouldn’t do and that are limiting your success. We all know what they are. Visualize them in your mind and imagine yourself dropping them in the garbage can, then replace those beliefs with your visualizations of who you want to be.
Chandelle and I have both been working on visualization techniques as well as working hard to remove our irrational limiting beliefs. You’re only going to be as successful as your minds allow you to be.
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