The Biggest Reason Why Smart Entrepreneurs Fail

by Yvonne Bynoe on January 19, 2012

“People can ONLY think to the level from which they are exposed” Marvet Britto (via Twitter)

Many smart entrepreneurs fail in their businesses because their visions are limited.  They have passion for their work but they also have fixed views about a host of things: how their business should run; what they are capable of achieving; what people will pay; and how much money they are entitled to. Doing the lone ranger thing, these smart entrepreneurs maintain their limited ideas and stay stuck. They continue to struggle in their businesses, not helping the number of people that they should and not making the money that they could. In comparion, successful entrepreneurs hire coaches and mentors because they realize that they have blindspots and lack the ‘know how” to reach their goals. 

I have yet to meet a successful entrepreneur who doesn’t work with a coach or mentor. 

This includes the millionaire and multi-millionnaire entrepreneurs that I have worked with. Why? Because you only know what you know. If your goal is to help more people; earn more money; create a business model that gives you more free time; add new products or services; break into new markets, get more media exposure; write a book, overcome limiting beliefs, etc. you need the advice and guidance of someone who’s been there and done it.   This means that you have to be willing to get outside help. This means that you’ve got to be willing to invest in yourself by hiring an expert.

You’re probably thinking, “She’s talking about spending money on coaching and I’m barely making it.” However, the hard truth is that if you don’t invest in yourself through a coach, you’ll keep struggling. 

When I started my business, I too was a “smart” entrepreneur who didn’t see the need to spend my extremely limited funds on a coach.  I thought that I was “smart” enough to create a fabulous 6 figure business by myself. Subsequently, I attended zillions of free teleseminars, read a library of marketing books, bought home study courses and even attended a conference.  My lack of progress was utterly astounding.  To make matters worse, the “small” amounts of money that I spent snowballed into a fairly large sum. Unfortunately I still didn’t have many more clients or much more income. I still wasn’t making the type of impact with my business that I desperated wanted.

After a year of believing that I was smart enough to go it alone, I decided that I wanted to be a successful entrepreneur.

My business goal was/is to empower women, emotionally, spiritually and financially. I also made the decision to invest in a business coach to make my dream possible. My first coach helped me to clarify my goals; create an income generating business model and decide on the best way for me to market my business.  She saved me valuable time, wasted money, and countless headaches.  More importantly she encouraged my potential and helped me to lay the foundation for my solvent business. To this day, I’ve continued to work with coaches and mentors. Each coach helped me to push further beyond my fixed ideas and my fears. With their counsel and knowledge my business has continued to improve and grow. 

A good coach can provide you with not only technical assistance but also accountability and emotional support.  My mentors have helped me to expand my vision of who I am and how I can contribute to the lives of my clients.  Moreover, as someone who came from a corporate background, these fabulous women helped me to see bigger possibilities for my life, impact and income as an entrepreneur. 

I’m inviting you to now take the step to expand the vision for your life….to make a bigger and more meaningful impact with your business.

I have  FREE Business Alchemy coaching sessions up for grabs.   In this private, 45 minute session we’ll talk about where your business is; where you want to be and what’s stopping you.  We can also discuss how to continue working with me one-on-one for the next six months.   Deadline Friday, January 20, 2012.
***The 8 sessions are gone but you can apply to be on my waitlist.***
To apply: Email me at Yvonne@SoulfulAffluence.com In the subject line put: Business Alchemy Waitlist.

 

 

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Most time management advice centers on creating and organizing your ”to do” list. Your “to do” list probably consists of ALL the tasks that you have in front of you on a given day.  Rarely does time management focus on prioritization.  A large part of prioritization is elimination of irrelevant tasks. 

If your goal is to have have a profitable and fulfilling business, you have to eliminate tasks that do nothing (or very little) to enhance your life or your cashflow. When it comes to time management I sure that you fall into one of these two camps:

Camp #1: You don’t have a “to do” list and everyday you’re winging it. The result is that you never seem to get anything important done. You spend your day putting out fake fires and doing time wasting activities. Your revenue, or rather lack of it, reflects your lack of discipline and focus.

Camp #2: You’ve got 25 items on your daily ”to do” list. You NEVER finish everything on your lists. You feel overwhelmed and incompetent. As result you’re having a hard time attracting clients and generating income because your confidence is at an all-time low.

Here’s the Real Deal…..

Most successful entrepreneurs have a daily “to do” list of no more than 1 or 2 key items.  Each day these entrepreneurs determine what is most important in terms of them moving closer toward their goals.

So here’s what you need to do. Use the first hour of your day to create your 1-2 item ”to do” list. Again, these are activities that are concrete steps to you acheving your yearly, monthly or quarterly goal.  Your first hour should be single-focused thinking—-no checking email, updating facebook, tweeting or talking on the telephone. 

Your ”to do” list should include items such as:

  • telephone prospect(s)
  • send out a proposal
  • having a conversation with an employee
  • write sales copy
  • do market research for new product

The point of time management is to decide how to BEST use your time to serve your clients, your business and yourself.  Busy-ness that doesn’t net results is nothing more than procrasination.

P.S. If you’d like to get clarity about your overall business goals and learn other strategies to transform your business from strugging to thriving click here to see how I can help you.

 

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