Why did you make that leap of faith and decide to set up your own business? What is it you are striving to achieve by being a business owner? The average answer I hear back is about gaining a better lifestyle and earning more money. Let’s face it, no one sets up their own business to work more hours and earn less money than they did when they were employed. The sad thing is that does end up being the reality for most business owners.
Why is that? My personal view is people’s desire to really drive their business forward is governed by how much pain they are in; for most businesses pain = money. The less money they have in the bank the more pain they are in and the more action they will take to achieve their vision (their “Why”). As the money starts to come in you move away from that pain point and slowly start to take less action. I see numerous business owners, grow to a point where they are earning enough money to just about pay the bills and they sit at that glass ceiling, even though this was not how they envisaged business life to be.
Realistically what I have just described is pretty normal human behaviour so how can you push through that point, that revenue glass ceiling, and continue to grow your business to achieve the work/life balance and the financial benefits that you dreamt about when you first started out?
1. Write it down! An unwritten goal is just a wish! The act of hand-writing your vision and goals makes them instantly more achievable as it cements them into your consciousness.
2. Know your vision. What is it you want to achieve with your business? Most people state a financial goal which is absolutely fair to do, but this is also why people fail to take action. You need to write down what achieving that financial goal would mean to you and your life. This is your real “Why”.
3. Build a plan. A vision without a plan to achieve it is unlikely to be attained. Let’s face it we all know how easy it is to deviate from a planned course of action but we also know that if we don’t have a plan to follow then we will take longer and spend more trying to achieve our vision. So build that plan! Break your vision and goals into small bite sized tasks that don’t sit in the category of “I know it’s important but I need a nice bit of quiet time to get it done so it’ll have to wait for another day”, because that quiet time rarely arrives which results in limited growth and you staying at your glass ceiling.
4. Take continuous action. Continuous growth requires continuous action. The more tasks you can tick off your growth plan the more energy you will generate to keep going.
The end result is a much higher likelihood that you will achieve your vision and push yourself through your glass ceiling. Take action today and do this exercise!