142 – May 22
“Don’t be afraid to try something new. An amateur built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.”—Unknown
If you’ve ever thought of going into your own business, I have exciting news for you. You already own your own business.
You may only have one client, a company that pays you a salary. You negotiated your “contract,” you determined your salary by agreeing to it, and you bargain for increased fees and reimbursement of expenses with every review. You provide services for a fee to a client. You may have another client or two if you moonlight in a second job.
Like any business owner, it is important that you constantly update your skills so that you stay the most valuable supplier of services to your biggest client. Customer service should be your top priority. How can you make your client more profitable, more efficient, more productive? What can you do to make business run faster, cheaper, better? Do you bring better, newer ideas to company meetings? Is the client getting great value for the money they are paying you? Are you fun to work with?
As you add more value to your client’s business, you will be able to ask for more value for your own. And you’ll get it, too—from this client or a new one!
Today’s Affirmation:
“I run the successful and profitable company of Me, Inc.!”
The Spider at the Gate
Each night, the little spider at my front gate works busily, weaving his web to catch his morning breakfast. He is diligent and hard-working, he studied design and construction, and he makes a fine web.
But very morning, I break his web apart as I pass through to collect my morning newspaper. I’m sure the spider sees the destruction and whines, “Why does this always happen to me? I work as hard as any other spider I know. I’m so unlucky! It’s not fair!”
The spider in at my gate isn’t unlucky – he has just chosen the wrong location for his business. Apparently, he didn’t have the advice of a good real estate agent who could have told him the three most important rules: Location, location, location!
Other spiders chose the right real estate, but then just sit there and chant, “I’m catching lots of flies, I’m catching lots of flies…” But they don’t build a web to catch them, so all the flies just zoom on by. Then they complain, “Those silly affirmations never work!”
Like spiders, we all have blind spots that keep us from attaining our goals, from having all the clients we want, and from making all the money we desire. We need teachers, mentors, and trainers to help us see the holes in our programs, devise the remedies to fix them, and practice our new choices until they become our new habits.
We know we need to learn, but we resist. “It costs too much!” we complain. “It takes too long!” “I’m too overwhelmed, it’s too far to drive, I have small children, my parents need help…” And we sit by our webs in the wrong location or chant affirmations without any web and wonder why we don’t have any money or why our dreams haven’t come true.
Get into a workshop! Sign up for a class! Hire a coach, join a mastermind group, get into therapy. Buy books on sales, marketing, self-esteem, metaphysics, personal empowerment. Take some action to learn something new so you can get new results. Help is all around you – reach out and take it! Invest your time, invest your money, and you will reap the rewards you crave. You invested time and money in learning the skills of your profession, didn’t you? You didn’t make it up from scratch. So invest some time and money in learning how to apply them so that your business is successful. You deserve it!