Don't Listen

“The ones that say that you can’t are the ones who are afraid that you will.” (Unknown author)

Those of us who decided to operate our own business may have heard the doubters who told us that we could not accomplish our dreams. We may have heard that we would fail, that no one can make a success of whatever we wanted to do in business. We heard that we were foolish and stupid for dreaming.

We may have heard these words of doubt from our family, our friends, or our former co-workers. These people may have been those who we liked, loved, or respected. They may have had our best interests in mind when they warned us, or they may have had no interest in warning us for our own good.

Very often those who give us this good advice only want to place doubt in our minds because they are jealous of our attempts to be different. They may tell us that we are crazy to dream that we can create something when others cannot. They may not want us to be successful when they may have failed in their business lives. They may just be petty and envious of our success or even the fact that we have the courage to try.

We all have people like this in our lives. We have heard them in networking meetings, in one-on-one meetings, and on the internet. They say that we cannot succeed, that our ideas will not work, that we don’t know what we are doing, or that what we are starting as a business is a scam, a false dream, or a failure to come.

Often these doubters claim to know someone who tried whatever we plan to do and who failed. When they are questioned as to who that person was, they just draw a blank. In short, that person probably doesn’t exist. Petty jealousy and envy are the reasons that they want us to fail or give up. “They” always have superior knowledge, but who are “they’ anyway?

When we decide to start a business, purchase a franchise, or join an existing business, we must do our homework. We must research the situation as thoroughly as possible, tapping into every source that we can. We must look at the pluses, minuses, and every other aspect of the business. We must decide if we can make a successful business from the possibility, not create a hobby. We must do all the work necessary and obtain every source of information that we can to be successful.

Every successful business has a business plan, written and evolving over time. We must have goals and revise them as we progress. We must be true to our mission statement, and we must be professional, passionate, honest, and ethical in our operation. We must treat our customers and employees in a professional manner, and as human beings. We must operate our business as a business, not a sideline.

When we operate our business we must be true to ourselves, our employees, our families, and our customers. We must rely on sound, professional advice, ignoring the naysayers who are jealous of our success and of our courage. Only then can we build a business that we can claim as a success and be proud of that success. Please leave me your comments here, or email me at Jim@SOC4Now.com, or call me at 360-314-8691.