Do you get tired of reading another ad or enticing offer telling you that you are a couple of mouse clicks away from making a fortune?  Personally, I find it very frustrating.  I have had numerous clients who have invested their time, which can’t be replaced, and their money, which most cases can be replaced, getting caught in the maze of finding the right business for them. 

Small business growth and success are about one thing:  Honoring Who You Are.  Let’s say that you are in a business that demands that you show up at a particular place every day.  It could be a retail business.  Yet, you thrive in an environment where you can get out and visit people.   The odds of being successful in that business are low. 

Why?  You are going to be unhappy.  You may earn good money for a while and enjoy it.  But, ultimately not doing something you truly enjoy will drain you and your relationships.  And, when you crash, in most cases so will the business. 

The business mortality rate is the same as it was 20 years ago.  If you want your small business successful, if you want more small business growth there is more education available than ever before.  Education from books is not the problem. 

I have observed that education about yourself is the challenge.  To often people pick a business where they are the round peg and they are trying to fit it into a square hole.  My wish for you is to increase the odds of your success.  Discover “who” you are.  Don’t jump into the maze that is the next golden opportunity. 

Once you really understand who you are and how to honor it in business then you are much more likely to recognize the businesses that will be a better fit and at which you are more likely to succeed.  I have two products that will help you in that process. 

I have developed these after 30 years of working with business owners and solo professionals and starting, owning and running several successful small businesses.

The first is my Progress Set Free E-Book, 

The Lost Keys To Small Business Success:

For Starting Your Own Business

Running Your Own Business

  .  The second is the Progress Set Free Home Study Course. 

The Keys And Steps To Small Business Success:  A Definitive Guide To A Better Business And A Better You

This is for those of you who are committed to knowing who you are in order to become more and have more. 

Regardless which one you choose, the key to success is to get started in making more and better choices when it comes to you and your business. 

Get to know yourself and get out of the maze of trying to find the business that is right for you.   You must get to know yourself.  InterestAfter all, is it going to make any more sense tomorrow than it does today to take the steps to having the business and life you desire?

With the numerous businesses and business owners I have worked with over the years there is one thing all of the successful ones have done.  They have embraced change.  To have your small business successful, you must embrace change or you will be run over by it. 

If you are serious about yourself and the success of your small business then you must be an active participant in change.  Look at the businesses that once were thriving but are no longer around.  With this in mind, I have put together several products that are designed to support you in creating your own successful performance strategy.

A good marketing business plan that recognizes change and embraces it can make an entrepreneur successful.  Do you want to be that entrepreneur?  Are you willing to learn the steps to success? 

All progress starts with those 5 inches between your ears.  What the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.  How are you feeding your mind?

If you change your thinking you will change your habits.  Change your habits and you will change your activity.  Change your activity and you will change your results.  Change your results and you will change your life. 

If you are COMMITTED to change and taking yourself and your business forward, take a look at the following:

1.  Progress Set Free E-Book–The Lost Keys To Small Business Success–This will get you started on the process of change. 

2.  Progress Set Free Home Study Course–The Keys And Steps To Small Business Success:  A    Definitive Guide To A Better Business And A Better You.  This course goes in depth and is for those who are truly serious about their success.  This course can help you create pathways to upgrade your business and your life.

3.  Progress Set Free–Free Audio Mini Course–Imprisoned By Progress and The Treadmill Philosophy–The 10 Deadly Mistakes Entrepreneurs and Solo Professionals Make And How To Avoid Them.  This audio series provides short audio clips with stories that discuss common challenges the business owner faces in starting up a small business or running a small business.

Whether you are running your business in a bad economy or a good one, change is the key to success.  Make a number of small changes and it will lead to the bigger changes you desire.

How often have you gone to a funeral and you hear people say that this is a celebration of a person’s life?  If you are like me, I have heard that quite often.  And, there was a part of me that was always confused.  I have lost someone I cared about and therefore it is hard for me to celebrate. 

My mother, who I was close to, died last week.  Her funeral service was yesterday in Pennsylvania and I was in charge of conducting it.  At times I felt overwhelmed with emotion and a sense of loss.  It was a challenge. 

Afterwards many of the people came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed the service.  They used terms such as “feeling a sense of closure” and “freedom to express gratitude”.  Everyone got to talk about my Mother and what she had meant to them.  It was a remarkable experience that I will never forget. 

But, what the funeral service was truly about was embracing change.  It was about celebrating the past and moving into a future without my Mother, who had been a great, positive influence on me and many people’s lives. 

To have a successful small business you must embrace change.  Too often, when we think about change we procrastinate because we focus on all the difficulties in making it instead of the benefits that will come from making it. 

There are some businesses I have worked with over the years that have a “celebration” when a change in completed.  In one instance, the new accounting system got installed and they had a party.  They celebrated the death of the old system and bringing something new and better into replace it.

To have your small business successful it is good to have funeral’s for those things that should be dead and gone.  Those are the things that hold back a business.  We should celebrate change and focus on the positive that is going to be open to us as a result. 

A successful performance strategy for embracing change is to practice the art of detachment.  You must learn how to detach and do it regularly.  It’s hard to move forward at the pace you like when you are holding onto something from the past.  That past can become like an anchor.  Every time you celebrate the past you are pulling up your anchor and you are moving forward.  You are detaching from your current mooring which allows you to sail in a new or better direction.

When you dwell on the past you are anchored in it and stuck.  In running your own business you must take a look at what needs to die.  When you do you will be embracing change and moving forward because you will be bringing death to what is holding you back. 

Now there’s something to celebrate!

I will finish up this series on starting your own business with a look at “flexibility”.  There are many things that go into having a small business successful, to small business growth and ultimately to the success you desire. 

I have purposely chosen to take some topics that are on the road less traveled.  They are crucial steps to business success and very often they are overlooked. 

Flexibility is one thing that is often overlooked.  Think about this.  Whether it be a marketing business plan, a sales strategy or the decision to hire someone, all of these start with a thought.  If you aren’t flexible between the ears then you have embraced a prescription for “not much is going to happen around here.” 

As I heard someone once quote.  “Embrace change or you will be run over by it.”  When you get run over by change you have been flattened.  When you are flattened, like one of those cartoon characters who is run over by a truck, your business and life become one dimensional. 

To avoid being flattened by change you must remain flexible.  When you are flexible in your thinking you will be agile.  With increased agility you will be able to grab opportunities when they present themselves (one form of change) and avoid disasters (another form of change). 

Just remember that all flexibility and agility starts with that 5 inches between your ears.  Flexibility is something that you must practice.  There are some areas where you are flexible.  Others where you are inflexible.  Take a look at the areas where you are inflexible.  Loosen up a little bit and you will find more energy and opportunity coming your way.

Very often I am asked:  “What does it take to have a successful business?”  Whether you are starting up your business or running your business you already know that to have your small business successful requires many things. 

For this post, I would like to focus on one thing that can help you immensely.  Take a look at the following:

• What baggage are you carrying into your business?
• How much does that baggage weigh?

You may say, now wait a minute, where is this headed?  Think about your business as an airplane.  You have put time and effort into building the plane.  You are ready to start your small business. 

The plane is now on the runway.  You start the engines.  Suddenly, a red light comes on.  You are carrying too much weight.  The plane, in spite of its powerful engines cannot take off. 

At this point, you have to stop and check your baggage.  First you identify it.  Secondly, you decide what you are willing to discard.  Now you are ready to take off and do it successfully.

Take a look at the baggage you are carrying.  Determine what it weighs.  Decide whether or not your business can take off with this baggage. 

Owning a small business is about many things including having a good marketing business plan.  No matter how good your plan, you won’t be able to take off for the success you desire until you account for your baggage and have the proper weight. 

This single thing, baggage, which is not addressed will cause in many instances failure and never allow your business to get off the ground.  Check your baggage every day.  Get at the right weight.  When you do you will take off for success.

A small business startup is a challenging experience.  It is easy to become absorbed in one area and distracted in another.  But, to have your small business successful and to take the steps to business success, you must keep one thing in mind.  Your customer must have a great experience. 

Too often when you are creating your marketing business plan or coming up with a successful performance strategy, the customer experience gets overlooked.  For customers to want to return and for them to spread the word their experience must exceed being good.  It must be great.

Growing small business is about growing your customer base.  Your customer base, if they have that “WOW!” experience will become a part of your sales force.  Think about it. 

Different isn’t necessarily better.  But better is always different.  Are you giving them a better experience to talk about.  In an era of great competition and many product similarities how can you differentiate your customer’s experience in a positive way?

It could be something as simple as a follow up thank you note or email.  And, don’t try to send anything else in this communication.  If you do, it is another in your face sales pitch and is more likely to take your excited customer and cool him or her very quickly.

Think about a great customer experience you have had.  Think of ways to get your customers to say “WOW” not only about your product but about your organization and you.  When you do you are building a foundation to have your small business successful.

For most of us who are self-employed one of the most crucial measuring sticks for success is sales.  A good marketing business plan is a must to support consistent sales and small business growth. 

And, if you don’t address some of the other topics in the previous posts then you are more likely to have a more difficult time with sales.  A successful performance strategy in marketing is about finding prospects who are interested and keeping the pipeline full. 

In sales you must have a sound conversion strategy.  Obviously, when there are no conversions there are no sales. 

Successful sales and marketing is built first and foremost around identifying a pain or need of your market. 

After you have identified the pain or need then you want to show your market how you can be the solution.

Next, you want to show them the benefit of you as the solution. 

Then you want to add features. 

Let’s say, for example, that you are selling a particular type of car.  Benefits to this car may be safety, good acceleration and good gas mileage.  Features may be reinforced steel frame, a responsive engine type and low body weight to increase gas mileage. 

I think you get the picture.  Too often people try to sell features instead of benefits.  In the process, the customer gets disinterested.  Find out the benefits and solutions your customers want.  When you do, you will be on the way to having more sales and your small business successful.

What is marketing?  Marketing is the process that you will use to bring in prospects for your product or service.  Once you have the prospect’s attention then you can focus on sales. 

But, how do you plan to market your business to keep the pipeline full?  Before you get started in a business be sure of two things:

1. How to successfully market your business?
2. How that marketing strategy will be implemented consistently?

These two components will be part of any good marketing business plan.

Small business growth is about having a good marketing plan and executing it consistently.  Interestingly, the creation of the marketing plan is not as big a challenge as is the consistent execution. 

And, it is lack of consistent marketing that can doom a business to failure. Why does this happen?  It happens because the entrepreneur, business owner or solo professional does not have the skills to execute the marketing plan.  And, because the budget is tight they will not pay to have it executed. 

Making your own business the success you envision requires, in most instances when starting out, that you wear most, if not all the marketing hats.  It must be part of your performance strategy for success.

For example, for some businesses to be successful it may require consistent phone calling with a script from a targeted list.  If you are not good on the phone or don’t like it then it won’t happen. 

Maybe your business requires a great deal of face to face contact and networking.  If you aren’t comfortable with that then it won’t happen. 

Know what type of marketing your business needs.  Either be ready to develop the necessary skills to be successful or look for another business that caters to your strengths. 

I have observed many small businesses fail, not because the owner wasn’t a good person, but because the owner didn’t have or wouldn’t develop the marketing skills necessary to make his small business successful.

In the first two posts we have looked at two components that are often overlooked in a successful small business startup.

1.  Build the business around you and your passions

2.  Act as though you cannot fail.

You may not think these are important.  After all, where’s the focus on sales, marketing, cash flow, business planning or hiring?  Truthfully, you can get all the information you need on these subjects from the internet, books, government agencies and schools. 

I think you would agree that there is plenty of education in these areas.  How come in today’s world, with an abundance of information like never before, that starting up your own business or running your own business doesn’t seem to be any easier?

The short answer is that people are not building businesses around their passions and around who they are.  As a result, they get into a business and end up creating a job they don’t like.  Last time I checked, when you don’t like something you either get out of it or end up performing at less than an optimum level. 

The third piece to successfully creating your own business is create a job you like.  To do this you must truly understand and appreciate “Who” you are.  This is what I call a “soft skill.” 

Understand what you are motivated to do.  And, understand what you are not motivated to do.  Make sure that somehow you cover what you are not motivated to do. 

You can do this through other people or create a system that takes care of it for you.  The goal is to create a business, and more importantly, a job for yourself that you love.  One of the key steps to small business success is enthusiasm. 

Be enthusiastic about what you are creating.  If you aren’t enthusiastic, neither will any one else.

Jim Rohn, one of America’s foremost business philosophers, once said, “Formal education will make you a living.  Self-education will make you a fortune.” Most of you have experienced formal education in terms of the schooling you were required to take as you were growing up.

So, what is self-education?  Self-education can be many things.

Self-education is reflected in those things you do that are not required.  And, it is critical to your success and that of your small business.  Remember, small business growth, and your small business in particular, will only grow as much as you do.

The Self-Education that will make you a fortune falls into two broad categories.

• The people you meet
• The books you read

Five years from now, your success in your business and life will be directly affected by the people you have met and the books you have read. Think about it.

If you meet some dynamic people it will positively affect your business and your life.

If you are learning to improve yourself and your business this too, will have a positive impact on your business and your life.  Under books you have read I will include magazine articles and purposeful information that you read on the internet.

To have your small business successful and to have the life you desire get in the habit of expanding your contacts and reading for personal and business growth.