Build a business that you’re proud of, not one based on other people’s idea of perfection. Image: CitroenAZU http://www.flickr.com/photos/citroen250/7793949716/
I could see the fear in your eyes and the confusion in your voice. The staccato of anxiety mixed with hope that leads you on but paralyses you with fear.
That’s your reward for running your own business.
Your hope is that one day you’ll 2x or 5x or 10x your business income. That one day, when you get the recipe right, you’ll be the owner of a multi-million dollar business.
One day you’ll have a business just like the speaker at that last sales conference, the one with the perfect smile and the perfect life.
The one who, if they aren’t already, should be on the cover of a glossy magazine.
If only your life was more like them. You’d never wake up in the middle of the night wondering about how you’re going to pay the wages next week. You’d never worry about recruiting because people would be beating a path to your door. And you’d never have to ask yourself why you got into business because you’d be aligned to a higher purpose.
Oh, if only you were more like the person on the cover of the glossy magazine.
But the truth is, those glossy magazines peddle lies and disillusionment. They leave out the losses and make the magnify the wins and create fiction out of fact and resell it as truth.
So stop trying to run a glossy magazine business. In the real world businesses are messy and chaotic and nothing at all like the front cover of a magazine.
In the real world it’s ok not to be the biggest. It’s ok not to be the flashest. It’s ok not to have a multi-million dollar turnover.
When you stop trying to be a tabloid magazine you’ll soon learn to love the lumps and bumps in your business. You’ll embrace them for the lessons they teach you and the highs and lows they bring.
When that happens, the fear will go away, the confusion will disappear. Once again you’ll fall in love with your business. Just like you did at the start.