Written By: Kimberly DeShields-Spencer
When is it going to happen for me?
If only I had more financial resources to do ____?
Can I really be successful in this business?
Is this the right time for me to launch out?
What if I don’t succeed, how will that affect my family?
When I first started my business, I tried to grow my business like the people around me were doing. I was not secure in who I was – then again who is at 19 years old! I tried to look the part and speak the part. I went to the same events, read the same books and hung out with the same crowds. However, I soon realized I was being a copycat version of what I saw around me, and I didn’t like that. I was trying to look the part that was never designed for me. It was designed for someone else.
In that season, I was brought face to face with the realization that what I thought about myself created this need to feel significant in my business. It created this need to feel valued by my peers and my clients. It created this need to try and emulate those around me (who had many more years of experience and expertise). It created this need to complain about what was not happening versus re-writing my own scripts. Trying to feed that need ended up causing me to crash and burn the first couple of years in business. I don’t want that for you.
When I hit a low point in those early years, I had to really sort through why I felt being myself was not good enough. Why did I feel like I needed to be someone I wasn’t? Truth be told I grew up in a great home, I have loving parents, a great family, and a strong support system. I was raised in an environment that supported who I was and where I wanted to be in life. So where did this sudden feeling that I was not good enough come from?
It came from watching those around me who kept sharing how easy it was to implement their campaigns. I saw people share how they were adding clients left and right to their company, and here I was moving at a slow pace. I questioned whether I had what it took. I questioned if I could start my own business. Those were the thoughts that were flooding my mind at the time. I had to learn over the years that my worth was not rooted in what I saw around me. I don’t and never will do business like anyone
else. I can only conduct business in a way that fits who I am. It took time for me to uproot where my thinking was anchored and for me to grow to the place God had designed just for me.
Often when we talk about how we are thinking we immediately want to fill our space with affirmations, encouraging quotes and feel good messages. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for that and quite often I post encouraging messages on social media. But I am also about getting to the root of where your thinking resides. When you pluck the root, it is hard for that weed to grow back.
The quality of your thinking matters. The depth of your thinking matters. How you organize your thoughts is important. It matters what you say about your talents, gifts, your future and even what you speak about others. It matters how you frame the words that you believe about where you can go. There is a saying that what you sow you will also reap. There are many ways that people use this classic saying as it relates to your actions. I want to use it as it relates to how you choose to shape your thoughts. What we are going to explore are several areas where cultivating how you shape your perspective can directly and indirectly affect the altitude of your business.
It matters how you see yourself. It matters how you view the steps that you are taking. It matters how you view where you are today in business. Why? Your level of thinking and belief will orchestrate how far you can go in your business. You grow as far as your belief. If your belief in your skill sets is limited, then your steps will be as well. If you don’t see yourself being successful, you won’t achieve success. When you don’t see yourself through the lens that you wish to live in, you can self-sabotage yourself. You can create your own barriers and you can be the single reason why you are not where you want to be.
Reading the next pages is designed to challenge you to take a realistic view of where your thinking is anchored. No one is going to see what you write down. No one is going to see your reaction. No one is going to know if any of these areas deal with you directly. That is the beauty of really diving into a book that is designed to help you cultivate habits that can assist you in growing.
So, I want to challenge you to be honest with yourself. If you don’t be real with yourself who can you be real with? As a strategist, I find that it is often not the skills or talents that prevent someone from growing their business. The issues are usually embedded in the mindset and perceptions that you may have about yourself as an entrepreneur, about how you perceive others view you in your industry or how you view the industry yourself. It is so crucial that you recognize what may be hindering you from really and truly exploding in your business.
As I mentioned before, you define how far you will grow and go. Part of that definition lies in what you are cultivating. I truly believe the seeds you sow shape the path you walk on. Now let’s examine what you are cultivating.
What Are You Cultivating?
There is a great saying by Henry Ford that says; “before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.” As a matter of principle, preparation is the most essential element of achieving success. While that is not a big secret, I am still fascinated by how many entrepreneurs still do not plan intently and strategically for where they want to go. Your harvest in business is highly dependent on the quality and quantity of the seeds that you cultivate. How you shape your thoughts, your plans and your next steps affect each season of your business. Different crops require different cultivation.
Cultivate the Core:
Without a focused and healthy intention for pursuing your business goals, you will end up becoming a prisoner of your own dreams. Really understanding the core reason of why you are launching that new program/service, why you are creating a membership program, and why you are entering a joint venture relationship fuels every action you take. However, you must cultivate how you will stay tied to the core reason of your why. Why? It is too easy to lose your “how” in the details of the activities it takes to develop your business. When you lose your core, it will be evident in what you attract.
Knowing your “why” is something that most entrepreneurs have down pat. However, it is really understanding the “how” that gets them tied up. That is where most get lost in how they are processing their what to do next and that is where mindset scripts start to play. How am I going to do this? How will this turn out? How I am going to get new clients? How am I going to get people to respond?
That is why it is crucial to be resolved as to why you are in business and why you wanted to launch that new product/service to help you stay grounded. You can’t have your core shaken while trying to build your business. If your core is easily challenged by life events, obstacles or by someone’s words your progress will be hindered.
Cultivate Your View:
While I love vision boards and setting goals, the key to really implementing what you want to see happen is rooted in how you see yourself. If you are developing content rich programs, but you inwardly believe that no one is going to buy it, or work with you, you will attract what you think.
You must cultivate how you view:
Yourself personally
The definition of success
Yourself as the expert in what you do
How you view who you are meant to be
If your view is distorted, then how you walk the path towards your goals will be murky and clouded at best. You need to have a sense of true clarity of what lies ahead of you.
One thing that can hinder that clarity is that often nagging and stubborn thought about whether you are qualified or skilled enough. That word “enough” can reduce how you see yourself which then reduces how you operate in your skill set.
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