There’s a bigger game to be played IN BUSINESS right now, and now is the Time to up your skill level and knowledge in your Business. If you don’t, you’re going to be left behind by those Business owners who are taking the time for self-reflection and who are implementing great Systems and Strategies into their Business.
The fact is, there is every possibility of a second wave to this pan-demic. History has taught us that each time there has been a previous Pandemic, we get hit by a 2nd, and sometimes a 3rd wave.
Now is not the time to try and do things alone. If you do, there’s a likelihood you could possibly get crushed. If you don’t have someone holding you accountable and helping you focus to move your business through this, you’ll be the poorer for it. Now is not the time to walk by yourself in this crisis. He or she who walks alone during this crisis is going to get crushed. You don’t have time to make mistakes. You’re here to play an even bigger game.
Here’s the thing – the best time to plant a tree is 100 years ago. The 2nd best time is now. If you wait, it never gets planted. It’s the same for your business, don’t procrastinate. Most people will. Don’t be one of them.
There are 3 areas you need to consider when playing the bigger game in BUSINESS
WISDOM,
COURAGE,
HUMILITY.
But before we look at these 3 areas, let’s look at where you are right now………..
Perhaps right now you are in a position where your business isn’t growing as fast as you’d like it to. Maybe you’d like your business to grow faster and also generate you more of an income and allow you to work less hours.
Possibly you’re time poor right now, maybe you’re juggling other things as well, such as family matters, or children.
Perhaps you’re stressed, maybe you’re in a relationship that doesn’t spin your wheels. Maybe you’re having some struggles with staying focused and staying disciplined in order to achieve what you want to achieve.
If you are a business owner at the moment, please understand this. Perhaps right now you don’t actually own your business. Maybe your business owns you!!!
And what I mean by that is if you can’t take six months out of your business without it falling apart, then perhaps you don’t really have a business, at all, just a J.O.B. And possibly you have a job with a terrible boss, “YOURSELF!”
who doesn’t give you enough time off,
or give you holidays.
And if you were to go off sick,
if you were to be hospitalised,
or if you were to take time out to be with family for emergencies, then would your whole business just fall apart? If that sounds like you right now, I would highly recommend you do something different. You have to play the game at a higher level now.
Where would you like to be instead, and what does coming out the other side look like?
Imagine if right now Money is flowing into the Business, and you know that you can pay suppliers and staff. You don’t have those money worries like some other business owners.
What if right now you’re sleeping at night and not dreading about your business because of the system you have in place is working so well. In fact, you feel relaxed and you wake up every morning looking forward to what the day will bring.
And right now as we move through this Epic event, we are being given the opportunity to play the game at a higher level. We are being given an opportunity to think differently, to act differently.
So how do we play the game at this higher level. It goes to the 3 areas I mentioned before
WISDOM,
COURAGE,
HUMILITY.
WISDOM:
To know, learn and understand how the bigger game is played.
You need a great Circle of Influence in these times. What is a Circle of Influence? Well it’s a group of people who think similarly to you.
And I’m going to ask you a question right now, and I want you to give yourself an honest answer here – no fudging. Are the people you hang around with, right now, as in your closest people, are they conducive to your growth?
Because I want to tell you the truth. If you’re hanging around five negative people,
who see this crisis only as a negative then guess what, you’re going to be number six!
And if you’re hanging around five people who are not earning the money you would like to earn, then you’re going to be number six as well.
Because that is the law of averages. They say you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So please understand you’ve got to work on your circle of influence. You’ve got to expand and upgrade their circle of influence.
One of the most important things as a business owner that will benefit you enormously is being around the right people, and having the right peer groups around you. Quite often as a business owner it feels lonely, you can feel isolated, because you spend time with staff members, or you spend time with your key managers perhaps, or maybe you don’t have staff members, and the only other time you’re spending is with clients and customers.
The problem with that is you can’t learn from those people, and unfortunately that means you might be missing out on some key parts within your Business.
I think there are 3 peer groups you need.
You need people who play the game below you, these are people who don’t know what you know,
that don’t have the distinctions that you have,
they don’t have the knowledge and know-how,
the wisdom that you’ve got.
And obviously, these are people you can lead.
These often become your customers because they’re paying you for that advice, and you need that group [making your money because you need to have people to serve.
The next type of peer group you need, is people who play the game at the same level as you. They know what you know, they are, in essence, you might even call them your competitors, they might be collaborators, but they’re people on the same journey as you.
You get to network with those people, and you get to ultimately become someone who is like them, such you can let your hair down and have a laugh, have fun, and relax.
The third type of group is people who have played the game above you. These are people that you want to aspire to be like because they’re playing the game at an advanced level, perhaps they’re making more money than you,
perhaps there are distinctions that you don’t have that you’d like to have, perhaps there are beliefs that they’re operating from that you don’t yet have. If you hang around with those people, you can learn from those people.
You need to have
a group where you can learn,
a group where you get to laugh,
a group where you get to lead.
The question is, are you spending time in each of these three groups, and what percentage of time are you spending in all these three groups?
If you spend all your time in the bottom category where you work with only people below you, then you’re leading all the time but you’re exhausted and you don’t get the chance to let your hair down and have fun, and you’re not learning, which also means that eventually your leading will become a bit blunt because you won’t have new skills, and you won’t be constantly innovative.
If you’ve only got the group where you laugh and play fun, then fine you’re having a good time for a while but you’re not really contributing very much because you’re not leading and also you’re not learning either, so you’re kind of just stagnating and just hanging out. I’m guessing that’s not one you want to do.
And finally, if all you do is learn, and you keep on going to seminars, after seminars, after seminars and become a seminar junkie and you’re just learning and learning and learning but you’re not applying it because you’re not leading folks, then in essence, you’re going to ultimately be someone that’s not contributing. You’re either just learning for yourself and become an isolated wise person, but you won’t share that wisdom with others. In real terms, you need all three groups, so you can play the game at a higher level.
COURAGE:
Now is the time to have a courageous conversation with yourself, and market and invest in yourself and your business. By investing in yourself, you start to play the game at a higher level.
Perhaps I should ask a question?
How many of you would invest £10 to get a return of £15?
How many of you would invest £100 to get a return of £150?
How many of you would invest £1000 to get a return of £1500?
I believe everyone one of you would take all 3 scenarios. Yet so often I hear, ‘gee that’s expensive!” And when I ask, “compared to what?” I’m met with a blank look. Now is the time to play a bigger game and properly invest in yourself and your marketing in your business. Ensure when you are investing that you mitigate the risks associated with investing and marketing, and ensure you Test & Measure the results and track progress. By doing this, you know if it’s working or not and whether to continue turning the tap on, or turning the tap off.
HUMILITY:
Perhaps the greatest strength needed to play the game at a higher level, and one that is so difficult to possess.
Now is the time to reach out for help and guidance. Be humble to acknowledge the help you need to get your business to a place where you can take 6 months off, knowing the business is going to continue in your absence.
One of the greatest exponents of humility was Michael Jordan, one of thee, if not thee, greatest basketball player of all time.
Do you remember your first day at school? How excited you were, yet how nervous you were? Wondering what was going to happen?
It’s kind of a little bit like that in business.
When you went to school, you didn’t just go and sit at your desk,
and know immediately how to do your maths and your logarithms or do your English or science. No, there was a teacher up the front, teaching you and guiding you.
Helping you play the game at a higher level even then. And you asked questions!!!!!
I think it’s interesting that, when you’re learning, you didn’t go at it all in a rush, you actually learned in chunk sized bits. And you would embed those bits into your mind and then you’d practice them.
And then you’d have a test to see what your learning was like.
And if you passed the test, great. But sometimes you failed the test!
And you’d have to go back, and relearn it and resit the test.
But the thing is that, that was actually okay.
Because when you failed the test, the world just didn’t stop!!
You could actually go back and learn it again.
It’s the same in business, too, that, when you make a mistake, you can actually learn again, from what that mistake was.
Now, all the way through your learning at school, you had a teacher at the front. All those 10 or so years, you were there and then when you left school with that knowledge and you either chose to go to university, or you chose to do a trade. Again, you weren’t left by yourself.
You weren’t expected to know how to do all the plumbing, or all the electrics. No, you had a teacher who actually taught you, how to do your trade. You had to learn, to put that in practice. You had to do so many hours.
Now isn’t it funny, that when you go into business, you think you can do it by yourself. Yet all the way through school, all the way through university or trade school, you had a teacher or a mentor to guide you. They helped you play the game at a higher level
Yet when you go into business, you think, “Oh, I can do this by myself. It just seems crazy.
The thing is that, when you had a teacher, you learnt twice as fast, than if you tried to do it by yourself.
If you want to play the game at a higher level then now is the time to embrace all 3 areas in your business and ensure that game is played under your rules, under your control and within your parameters.
Now is time to play the game at a higher level, and be in control, and take charge of your destiny. Don’t procrastinate any more.