Business Survival Tips from "WILD THINGS"

"I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself.  A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself." 

- D.H. Lawrence

I talk to small business owners and entrepreneurs everyday who have a laundry list of reasons why their businesses aren't succeeding. 

"This economy is killing me."

"No one is buying right now."

"We just can't seem to get ahead."

"We didn't have enough funding when we started"

"It is so hard to find reliable employees these days."

"I can't afford to buy anymore advertising or marketing."

"I just don't know what else I can do to make a difference."

While the "reasons for failure" can run the gamut of excuses,  the pessimism permeating their "stories" is palpable.  The unfortunate thing is that PESSIMISM shuts out all creative thinking.  It literally shuts down your biological computer when you need it the most.  When we "shut down" like this, we stay "stuck" in DEFINING our problems rather than creating solutions.  The best news - for the world, that is - is that we are the ONLY mammals who would rather describe, detail and commiserate our problems rather than take action to solve them. 

One of my past mentors is Sam Beckford, The Small Business Millionaire.  He says, "There is no such thing as a lack of money... only a lack of creativity."  (I realize this sounds a bit utopian, but when you hear all that he has accomplished with NO money, you will stand amazed... inspired...and convinced that his statement is true.)  Anyway, business in any economy requires us to be FULL participants... creatively and strategically meeting challenges.  This is the exhilarating rush of being an entrepreneur.  In any economy, our customers are always changing, our market is always changing.  The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who are also willing to change... to do things DIFFERENTLY, because they want a different result.

 But, when I am asked to speak or when I meet with entrepreneurs throughout the week, I meet many who are very committed to the SAME.  Regardless of how ineffective the SAME has proven to be.   If they got ZERO response from a paid advertising ad, they choose to buy MORE advertising.  If they haven't gotten much response from their networking efforts, they choose to do MORE networking.  Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.  There's a LOT we can take from that quote. 

Often, after hearing about the "impossible" situations my fellow entrepreneurs will describe, I will ask them one question, "What are you willing to do differently?"  You see, if we want different results, we will have to do things differently.  More often than not, success will require you to do things differently than you have done in the past AND differently than other business owners you know.   CREATIVITY is key.  OPTIMISM is king.  ACTION is the fuel that makes all things possible.  What ACTION are you taking today?