'Are We There Yet?'
How To Create 'Overnight Success' In Your Business
Copyright (c) 2007 Mark Silver
Heart Of Business
http://www.heartofbusiness.com/
A person I admire has a very successful business. He's sharp,
personable, funny, smart, and helpful. And, the products and
services he provides are top-notch. He's sold thousands of them,
and his business is operating at a level much higher than mine.
Then he announced that he was celebrating three years in
business. What! Only three years? How'd he get so far, so fast?
He's created for himself an overnight success. I'm doing the
same thing, following the same steps he did. And, you can, too.
Here's the secret to his "overnight success": He spent 15
years prior to starting his "overnight success" business in his
industry, learning, growing, making mistakes.
Jim Collins, in his groundbreaking book Good to Great, wrote
about "the Flywheel and the Doom Loop." In the companies his
team studied, the ones who had outstanding results just kept
incrementally improving, learning, making mistakes, learning,
continuing. These efforts created momentum on their
"flywheel."
The Flywheel is an analogy Collins used- a Flywheel is a huge,
very heavy wheel that takes a tremendous amount of effort to get
it to turn even a fraction of an inch in its rotation. However,
by pushing steadily at it, it gradually picks up momentum. Then,
you hit the moment when it's moving so fast, nothing can stop
it.
In contrast, companies who didn't take the Flywheel approach
were caught in the "Doom Loop." Lurching around, trying a new
thing every year or two (or month or two!), trying to hit the
lottery. Sound familiar? Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
In other words, "overnight success" only looks that way from
the outside. When you finally hit your momentum, it won't feel
like overnight success to you. But it may look that way to
others.
I have found this to be true without exception. EVERY "overnight
success," when I've looked at it closely, wasn't really. My
mentor coach looked like an overnight success, going from $0 to a
full client load in 90 days... except that she had years of
experience in running a different practice before, and had the
internal confidence it takes to enroll clients.
There CAN be a sudden big jump in results, and this, no doubt, is
what makes people think to call it an "overnight success." But,
it just ain't so. The sudden big jump is because the slow,
steady incremental pushing of the Flywheel suddenly hit the
tipping point. You are inching up the see-saw, and, a little bit
past the mid-way point, the see-saw tilts in the other
direction.
The real question isn't "Can you get the see-saw to tip?" The
real question is: "Can you keep from getting thrown off when the
see-saw does tip?" How many lottery winners hold on to their
millions? How many sudden superstar athletes or musicians are
overwhelmed by success, and fall into drugs and reckless
spending?
It's strange but true that many participants in my Heart of
Money Transformational Journey have a bigger struggle
appreciating assets they already own, than they do in facing
their financial liabilities.
The real secrets to "overnight success" are:
1. It only looks like "overnight" from the outside - it took a
lot of incremental work over years;
2. You have to prepare yourself internally;
3. You should look around and find contentment in your heart
where you already are, so you can feel enlivened to continue the
journey ahead. You don't have to be afraid of success, but you
do have to prepare yourself spiritually in the same incremental
manner as you do your business. If you work on both the internal
and the external parts of success, then you'll be ready for the
tipping point when it comes, inside and out.
More details on how to create your own "overnight success"
below, in
Keys to Your Overnight Success
* Comparison is an evil force. Seriously. Although it's great
to watch others in order to learn, if you are comparing yourself
to someone else, when each of your situations is unique, you
ignite havoc in your heart as you struggle to be someone you
aren't.
Stop comparing yourself to others. You don't know their story.
You don't know how they did what they are doing. And, you
probably don't even know the full truth of how successful they
really are. People can look successful, and still have their
struggles.
* Appreciate your assets. This is the third chapter of Section
Five: The Heart of Money, in my book, and it is surprisingly
challenging for most people. Try facing something you own, maybe
a bigger ticket item, and notice how your heart feels as you face
it. This item is yours, it's been given to you, you have full
responsibility over how to dispose of it.
Don't be surprised if it's an overwhelming feeling. But take
time to accept what you already have into your heart. Digesting
like this will help make room for more.
* Don't do more than one difficult thing at a time. Don't
raise your prices, start a new marketing campaign, and try to
create your first DVD all at the same time. Pick one challenging
area, and immerse yourself in it until you feel you "own" it.
Then move on to the next. Don't worry if you don't have a blog,
or a DVD, or whatever latest and newest thing everyone is
touting. You'll get to them, if it's truly important.
Instead focus on the most challenging thing in your business that
isn't working to your satisfaction, and take it on. Learn about
it, chew on it, integrate it into your heart, and then you can
move on to the next.
The best to you and your business,
Mark Silver
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your
Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your
Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line.
He has helped hundreds of small business owners around
the globe succeed in business without losing their
hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online:
http://www.heartofbusiness.com
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