How To Stay On Course And "Win In Business"

Every person, business and venture needs a purpose to achieve one's full potential, and although it is important to have an end goal in mind, the way we walk the journey will determine whether we reach our ultimate goal.

We certainly haven't arrived when we first start a business, and as many know, there are always several distractions along the way! Many challenges are thrown in the path of a growing business. Time and again you will face a choice - meet the challenge and continue along the path, or resign your vision.

How can you stay on course and achieve your goal?

Vision

Where there is no vision people lose focus. In order to get where you want to go the first step is to know where you are heading. It is important to ensure that your vision is tied to your passion and that you develop an action plan that outlines responsibilities and deadlines of when things need to be achieved.

Be aware of mindsets

The big problem for any business person are the mindsets they face in the workplace. Whenever you decide to do something, 10% of people will undoubtedly either oppose or disagree with you.

You cannot build a business on such people - they are the outspoken ones and tend to make most of the noise, and therefore unfortunately tend to get listened to. However, they have never done what you are doing and will never help you get where you are going.

The moral of the story - don't live in other people's mindsets!

Get good advice

Advice can come in many forms, however there are a few key areas that every business person will no doubt be exposed to at some point:

Consultants: Consultants are great for "doing the detail", but unless they have worked in your business, they are not able to bring a lot of commercial expertise, only opinions about what they have heard.
Experience: When you are starting or building a business, or going through a difficult time, you need to find someone who has experience, but from the outside, who will be able to look objectively at your challenge or expose something that needs to be addressed.
You need to be listening and learning: When you are weak on an area, for example customer service, learn to use your car as your university. Get teaching CDs on customer service, or leadership or on building confidence - whatever topic your currently tackling - and use the time wisely to learn on-the-go.
Learn to ask, question, listen and read, watch and observe other businesses and people.
Negativity: Invest your time with positive people who give positive input. It is easy to pick up negative attitudes and negative opinions. This will not help build your business.

No single learning experience is a waste of time - you'll often learn how not to do things, as well as how to do things well and for the benefit of your vision.

Develop a "Yes" face

Your staff, customers and banking advisers will all have a different opinion when you are confident and have a "Yes" face. When they see the "No", they will develop a "No" face along with the body language, which often says that the task you are proposing cannot be achieved.

Teamwork

Get the right people. If you get the wrong people because that is all you can afford, they can hinder your business from growing, they will introduce potentially damaging systems, or won't abide by existing systems, and your business will potentially go in the wrong direction, making it very hard to pull back on track.

It is also important to share your vision and values with new and existing employees. Let them see your passion for the business. Look for employees that are going to share the passion for the business - not people who are just looking for a few dollars to pay bills.

You also need to look for a powerful combination of people who embody teamwork and can work together as a team. Avoid staff who position themselves simply as "arms and legs". You need to have the legs, arms, nose, mouth, hair, etc. all working together as a team to create a very powerful team.

Look forward

We need to keep looking forward in our business and in our relationships. Often when we face problems or difficulties (that appear like mountains), we tend to turn around and look back, but we need to keep looking forward to be able to plough through those problems. You've heard the saying, "The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing in the same way, while expecting a different result". Continually looking back and regretting mistakes only makes us want to do the same thing in the same way.

Sometimes it's tough looking ahead; all you can see are the challenges and the hard times. If you are under attack in your business, if you are under attack from your competitors, enjoy the compliment! If you are taking ground, then somebody's losing ground and they won't like it! Part of succeeding in business is facing some competition. As the saying goes, "No pain, no gain".

Be aware of the trap in believing that current ideas, thoughts, procedures, teachings and communication methods can't be challenged. If you fall into that trap, you will risk missing out on future opportunities as they present themselves. Opportunities tend to fall into the path of people who look forward rather than backward.

In a nutshell, get rid of the rear vision mirror mentality. The reason that the rear vision mirror is so small is because it shows the past. It is all back there, you need to learn from it but you need to be looking out of the front windscreen, which is wide and big, because that is your future.

Learn to see problems as your friend

We always see obstacles as problems that are going to knock us over or keep us down. However, when you actually solve these problems or difficulties, your confidence builds, your business systems improve and you learn a lot through the experience. It gets you ready for the next stage.

Marketing

Marketing is about focusing everything that you do on your core idea. If you have an idea about your business, your key difference, then that needs to be communicated in your public relations, advertising, packaging, pricing, local store marketing, signage, store décor (if applicable), stationary, receptionist, website - everything. The key mistake that many people make is that they waste their money in marketing when they communicate different messages through different aspects of the marketing pie.

Remember, today is the first day of the rest of your life. Today is a new day in your business, Today you are perched on the edge of your destiny. What are you going to do with it? Enjoy the journey!

Peter Irvine has 45 years business experience and is the co-founder of the phenomenal business success of Gloria Jean's Coffees in Australia, in addition to other iconic brands such as McDonald's throughout his former advertising career. 'WIN in BUSINESS' (Ark House Press) is Peter's inspirational guide for those looking to unleash the full potential of their business and is available throughout leading retailers and book stores nationally. For further information, or to order a copy, please visit: www.prirvine.com
First published: 22 January 2008.
Last updated: 22 January 2008.