Category: Mindset

What Do You Do When You’re in a Valley?

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So if we could, we all would live on a mountaintop, right? We would always have enough. Actually, more than enough. More clients. More products sold. More services sold. More revenues.

But life is full of ups and downs. And business is no exception. What can we do when we experience valleys in our business?

Here’s a few ideas to help:

1) Adjust your mindset

A scarcity mindset will trip you up. It will lead you to be not only in a valley, but in an endless sink hole. Get rid of those poverty emotions!

For instance, the other day I found that my husband was wearing a ragged shirt. I made him get rid of it. Hanging on to rags just perpetuates the cycle. I’m going through my clothes item by item and when I find a whole or tear I am throwing it away. I do this in full confidence that God is going to provide. I rely on Matthew 6 that says that He clothes the lilies of the field. He will clothe me, too! He will take my rags and turn them into riches! So I act in faith and let broken things go.

2) Discipline yourself to not spend

I can’t tell you how many times we ran out of money before the month was over. We would wonder how we were going to make it. Whether or not the lights would be on. Whether we would have the money for groceries or gas.

But each time, God provided. Sure, we had to “tighten our belts” but this discipline was actually good for us. We learned that, like Paul in the Bible, we could be content whether we had much or little. I became very adept at not spending unless I absolutely had to.

3) Move forward in faith

Sometimes the stress of being in a valley is so overwhelming that you don’t know what to do. Just do the next thing. One little step at a time.

Is there a thought nagging you that you need to do? Just do it! Are you procrastinating on something because you are afraid you will fail or that it’s too difficult? Just set a timer for 15 minutes and work on it!

Make that phone call, send that email, or write that article that will move you forward.

Being in this valley is not forever. You will climb out. It may be the climb of your life. But in the process, you are exercising your faith. Faith is what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. You are becoming more strong. You are becoming mature.

And that will empower you to help more people. To make a bigger impact.

4) Work toward having multiple streams of income

Think about different ways you can bring in money. For instance, if you sell a health product, think about how you can become a coach. Develop informational products.

For my husband’s architectural business, he is working on blueprint plans he can sell so he is not trading hours for dollars and this will be another stream of income for us, especially in those times when the construction business goes through dry times. My business is crucial, too, in this so we have several income streams.

5) Create a savings account for the valley times

This seems obvious but if you are living payment to payment like we did for a long time, this is often hard to do. Start saving up until you have at least one month’s expenses set aside.

And that will mean your brand sizzles and your future dazzles!

Photo by Sam Beasley

3 Mindsets that Kill Your Business

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LootYou may have heard the sobering statistic that more businesses are failing than are starting. So how can you, as a business owner, avoid becoming this statistic? Here are three mindsets that will hasten your failure and are to be avoided:

1. Looking for a quick fix or magic wand

Our society truly deserves the nickname, “Microwave Generation.” We expect results and we expect them right now and if we don’t get them immediately, we want to quit.

But owning a business involves a process. It is a journey and it takes perseverance. There will be many ups and downs, and sometimes more downs than ups. But looking for that magic wand or quick fix or magic pill is not going to solve your problems. This thinking leads to short-sightedness and makes you reactionary, impatient, and lacking in vision.

I think of a great example in Napolean Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. In this classic book, Mr. Hill describes a miner who gave up too soon in his quest for gold. He quit and sold it to an investor and that investor became rich because the vein the original miner found was very close! The miner quit too soon!

Looking for that quick fix or magic wand only leads to disillusionment which leads to quitting!

2. Believing that you know it all

As a business owner, you can’t know everything. Nobody expects you to know everything. If you think you know everything and can do everything yourself, you are headed for real trouble.

This example is so perfectly illustrated in one of my favorite books, Seventeen Against a Dealer by Cynthia Voight. Her character, Dicey, is so consumed with making boats that she doesn’t ask for any advice, doesn’t get any training or education, but plows ahead because she thinks she is supposed to know everything about building boats. Her business fails as a result.

Learning how to delegate is an important characteristic of successful business owners. Trying to do it all yourself leads to burnout and business failure.

3. What you have to share is not worth it

If you don’t think your target market will value your product or service, they won’t. If you don’t see the value in it, how will anyone else see the value in it?

It’s so easy to undermine what you offer due to lack of confidence or belief in yourself. That communicates a message to your prospect which will repel them. This will result in poor sales.

I did that for many years. I didn’t think that what I had to share about branding was worthwhile. Then I realized it was because I lacked self-confidence and didn’t believe in myself. It almost killed my business!

Don’t let these three attitudes lead to you becoming an unfortunate statistic! Rid yourselves of these mindsets now!

Would you like to learn how you can overcome these mindsets and others and how you can increase your profits as a result? Listen to my free podcast by clicking here now!

Loot © Dana Rothstein | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Building a Brand–It’s All About Mindset

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dreamstimefree_168262Let me be brutally honest here. I’ve been hiding under my covers all day, running from my responsibilities as a brand expert.

You see, sometimes I get scared. I have huge dreams, and they seem impossible.

Because after all, who am I to achieve these lofty ideas? How am I even remotely worthy?

These are the voices that coaxed me all day, to convince me that I can’t succeed. That if I did succeed, then what? It’s the little voice that tells me the big lie: “you are just a fat housewife. No one wants to listen to you.”

But then I hear my nephew, now my apprentice, talking to a friend on the phone. “God loves you, man,” he says. “no matter what you do.”

Even if I hide behind a novel all day long?

Yes! I know in a heartbeat that this message said for his desperate friend is also for me. It puts new life in me, a new determination.

You see, a few months ago, I received a blow. My world was shattered and it forced me to reevaluate everything about my life and business. I took a sabbatical from work so I could concentrate on my marriage and my husband’s business.

In many ways, this revelation was a relief to me. In all candor, I am not where I want to be. I am not, in life, where I expected myself to me. Something has always held me back. I kept circling down toward the answer, like peeling off the layer of an onion.

And at the bottom of it all, I found out it wasn’t really me. It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t even my mindset that held me back ultimately, although that was part of it.

But, looking back, I am not where I was. So much growth has taken place. I am not the same person. My marriage is stronger. I am stronger. My business will be stronger and because of what I went through, I will be able to help more people in more profound ways.

The challenges seem like I have to move mountains. Frankly, I didn’t have the energy for that today. I wanted a day of escape. I didn’t want to think of the multitude of mounting problems that face me.

Yet, as the challenges are daunting, the opportunities are vast. So much I have learned. I have come so far. Even so far as to be bold and speak about what I do in an atmosphere I once would have found intimidating.

I spoke about it with passion and ease, just explaining how I helped women launch their businesses through remote coaching.

As I described my programs and what I do, doors started opening before me I never thought possible. I found that I was wanted. I had something valuable and powerful that could not only build my business, but deeply touch the lives of many women all over the world.

I don’t know how this opportunity is going to turn out. I have shrunk today in my own little escapist world by reading an historical novel. But tomorrow I must get back in the fray, caught between the juxtaposition of reaching for a pinnacle of success and wading through a ton of irritating hurdles to get there. Caught between the juxtaposition of fear of failure and fear of success.

One thing I know as I finished my book tonight, disappointed in the ending, in the lack of growth in the main character–I want to meet these challenges with boldness, confidence, grace, and strength. I want this experience to grow me, my business, and help others grow in the process.

Because building a brand takes confidence. Not just in yourself. It takes faith. Faith to move a mustard seed. To move a mountain. And that takes faith in God.

Little Teddy

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