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To Succeed, You Must Be Committed!

Guest post by: Pat Mussieux

Article Overview: Have heard the expression, when it comes to business: “when you are interested, you do what is convenient; when you are committed, you do whatever it takes!”?? (I’m not sure of the source for this quote because I’ve heard it from so many different people – but it really does ‘sum it up’ when it comes to your approach to business!)

To Succeed, You Must Be Committed!

Have heard the expression, when it comes to business: “when you are interested, you do what is convenient; when you are committed, you do whatever it takes!”?? (I’m not sure of the source for this quote because I’ve heard it from so many different people – but it really does ‘sum it up’ when it comes to your approach to business!)

As I enjoyed breakfast this past weekend, I was reflecting on the above quote as I stared at my bacon and eggs. Seriously – ask yourself the question: are you the chicken (‘interested’) or the pig (‘totally committed”)?

If you find yourself ‘interested’ – then, I consider you to be a hobbyist.And that’s ok because there’s a place for everyone – but those are not the people I choose to work with.

When it comes to my business, I choose only to work with those who are serious – those who are committed – those who really want to transform their business – and make a difference in the world!(That’s also the experience I had with my new master mind members last week – and THAT is what made the experience so fantastic – every single person in that room was committed to doing business in a very serious way!)

My ‘ranticle’, since the start of the new year, has been about the chicken and the pig – the hobbyist vs the entrepreneur. There are so many people who are truly wasting their God-given talents and gifts because they just are not serious about the way they are doing business. Here’s the difference – truly committed, serious entrepreneurs:

1. Have a business plan and a strategy.
2. Have a professional development plan and strategy.
3. Have a business bank account.
4. Have a merchant account – so they can properly service their customers on line (with respect to payments).
5. Belong to a master mind group (because they are NOT afraid to invest in themselves and in their business).
6. Spend time with great mentors and other successful entrepreneurs.
7. Have all the proper equipment with which to do business.
8. Work in an organized, efficient environment.
9. Work in an organized, professional, effective manner (true hours of business!).
10. Are clear about who they are and the service they provide/ transformation they offer.
    
    (This is a pretty good little check-list for some self-examination, by the way.)

Is this you? Congratulations!Do you want this to be you? Then get serious – get in the game – get committed! I find it very sad to see entrepreneurs who are ‘out there’ trying to attract clients and make money when, in fact, they can barely pay their mortgage and haven’t made money in their ‘business’ in years – how in the world do you expect YOUR clients to pay YOU? You attract what you think about………..

Conclusion:

No one person makes it ‘on their own’ in business.That is why there is such a range of great professional services available……..book-keepers, accountants, virtual assistants, ………and coaches.

I am writing this article to get you thinking – thinking about what is possible for your business and for your life this year.When you are seriously in business – and you do what it takes to succeed – you must get totally committed to the outcomes. You must do whatever it takes! (Who ever said that having your own business was easy? It’s hard work, for heaven’s sake!) Or………step aside – and get out of the way of those who are actually doing “it”.

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”– Benjamin Franklin

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Article Tags: Being an entrepreneur, business success, Confidence and courage, hobbyist vs the entrepreneur, Marketing and Mindset, Pat Mussieux



Related Forum Posts
Re: Success - I study success intently, and would like to share: Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters. FIRST FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Clear, Definite Purpose 3. Committed Decision 4. Take Action In Faith (Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently) I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it. Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula. SECOND FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith) 3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly) This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret). Hope that helps!
Re: Books for Business Owners - Hi DougSchadle, Thanks for sharing your favorite business book with us! A good book I'm reading now is "Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed" by Brian Tracy as it was a birthday gift from a friend. Tracy's book is helpful in identifying what's important in your life and then setting an action plan to achieve it.
Pitch Like A Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succ - Pitch Like A Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succeed Ronna Lichtenberg 2005 From the inside cover: "As a woman, you probably feel uncomfortable when it comes to promoting yourself and asking for what you want." WHAT IN THE HECK IS THIS, I asked myself when I read that. Women are the fastest growing business owners in the US and Canada, there are t housands of women executives and CEOs - though not as many as might be expected, admittedly, yet the book opens with this surely out of date stereotype. However, as she continued to give examples of women who had high paying jobs but were routinely not paid as much as men because it hadn't occurred to them to ask for raises, etc., I decided it was probably true for a majority of businesswomen... Anyway, more of the info from the jacket: "Other books have told you how to get what you want by being more like a guy. Pitch Like A Girl tells you why its an advantage to be who you are and how to do better by bringing more of yourself to work." The TOC: 1. Pink and Blue 2. The Quck-dry Chapter 3. What's In your head that's not in his 4. The Me, Inc Mindset 5. Visioning: Discover What You Really Want 6. Identifying Prospects 7. Pre-pitch homework and heartwork 8. Crafting the pitch 9. Pricing the pitch 10. Packaging the pitch 11. Delivering the pitch 12. Closing Conclusion A Word to the guys The Empathy Quotient The Systemizing Quotient Bibliography And on a side note - non-fiction books without indexes - of which this is one, annoy me.
Why women don't charge more - I just read a chapter in Pitch Like A Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succeed, by Ronna Lichtenberg that deals with this. THe chapter is called Pricing the Pitch. "In a WAll Street Journal article about what might be holding women back from corporate success, Terry Dal, a former vice president at Wells Fargo bank, said, "Good girls don't advertise; only prostitutes advertise. We feel dirty promoting ourselves." The author's advice: The first step in getting the money you desserve is to understand the market rate for your offering. Not what you think you need, not what they're willing to pay, but the going rate for similar goods and services offered in your area by someone with your skills and experience. Then, seek expert advice. "Men routinely consult lawyers, financial advisers, exxecutive recruiters and any other paid counselors to help them assess what constitutes a fair fee." Your research into going rates should not lead you to a single price for your pitch but rather a range of prices - both a market range and a personal range, which should overlap but won't necessarily be identical. In pricing, one size does not fit all. The final step in determining your price is to consider what you think you'd be paid for the same job if you were a man. The author also discusses why women usually discount their prices (must'n't appear too over-confident), the difference between discounting and "giving a discount", and other issues. I'd advise every woman wondering about what to charge to read at least this chapter of the book.
Napoleon on Project Management - Why do I include this in a list of books aimed at female entrepreneurs? Well...in the expectation that there are as many female history buffs as male ones, and in the belief that anyone interested in history will find this book fascinating, while those interested in project management will learn a thing or two. I think this was the first "gimmick" book - an author using a historical figure (usually a male, military figure, it must be admitted) to talk about modern day business management. I refuse to read any of the kind that advocates - even obliquely - the techniques of the Sopranos or the Mossad - but these military ones are pretty fun. Anyway: Only in the understanding of history, Napoleon might say, do we gain an understanding of strategy in the present. In the same spirit, Napoleon on Project Management offers the recipe for successfully managing your commitments using the strategies, tactics and priorities that propelled Napoleon himself to victory. [The book doesn't gloss over how Napolean eventually fell in defeat, of course, and there's lessons to be learned there as well. TOC Foreword by Douglas James Allan (Napoleanic Society of America) 1. The Rise to Power -The Skills to Succeed -A Compelling Vision -Diplomacy and Networking -Lessons from the Great Campaigns 2. Napoleon's 6 Winning Principles -Introduction -Exactitude -Speed -Flexibility -Simplicity -Character -Moral Force 3. The Downfall -What Went Wrong -Lessons from the Russian Invasion and Waterloo -The Four Critical Warning Signs -Napoleon's Legacy


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