Your business is where it is, how it is, and what it is today because of your former knowledge, mindsets, strategies, and habits. What got you to where you are today is NOT SUFFICIENT to keep you there or to get you to where you want to be. For your business to keep on growing, you must keep on growing. That is the price you must pay. To earn more, you must learn more. The only way for your company to continue to expand is for you as the business leader to continue to expand your knowledge, mindsets and habits. Are you up to the challenge?
As a business coach for over 16 years, I have seen first-hand that the most successful and satisfied entrepreneurs never stop reading, learning, listening, growing and associating with winners. They are thirsty for new knowledge, ideas and solutions. As UCLA basketball coach and legend John Wooden said, "It's what you learn after you know it all that really counts". Just when we think "we have all the answers and have arrived" is the critical time for us to be open to receive the valuable learning that is all around us.
As your virtual business coach, please be open to the real possibility that you have a great deal more to learn... about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, your business, your customers, your industry, your vision, your employees, your plans, your opportunities, your problems, your competitors, etc. Hopefully you don't believe that you have all the answers, know everything there is to know, are smarter than everyone else, and that there is no room for you to grow, develop and improve. Hopefully you are really not that arrogant, ignorant, and/or complacent. Sadly, a sizable portion of business owners think they know it all, stop learning, and pay a huge price for their hubris. These are some of the same owners who think business coaching is just for other entrepreneurs. They just don't get it! They fail to grasp that for their business to grow, they must grow.
Again, what got you to where you are today is NOT SUFFICIENT to keep you there or to get you to where you really want to be. Things change. Conditions change. New problems and challenges will require new solutions. New opportunities will require new ways of thinking and new strategies. Do not allow yourself and your company to be held back by your outdated practices, habits, strategies, assumptions, and ways of thinking. You must continually seek new and fresh ideas.
As an entrepreneur, one of your chief duties is to generate IDEAS, and lots of them. Ideas to improve your business, develop your employees, grow revenues, reduce costs, improve efficiencies, enhance customer service, create new products and services, seize new opportunities, confront problems, etc. You should be the Chief Idea Generator. Let me ask you some business coaching questions. How are you doing in this role? How many ideas do you generate weekly? How much time a week do you set aside to think, learn and generate ideas?
BUSYNESS is your enemy to generating new and profitable ideas. The only way for you to generate bigger and better ideas is to focus the time and energy to do just that! And to realize that you don't need to be the only source for all those ideas...you just need to gather them up. Leverage other people's experiences! You simply need to learn from the experiences of others and adopt and adapt their ideas to fit your situation.
New ideas, answers and solutions can come from all around you. To learn from other people's experiences, read more magazines and books. Listen to CDs while you drive to and from work, especially about how successful owners, leaders and executives think and act...get inside their heads. Join a group of peers in a Growth Coach group coaching program and learn new strategies, insights and perspectives from other owners and industries. That is a powerful mastermind group of like-minded owners all committed to growing themselves as owners, their businesses and the richness of their lives. Another way to leverage ideas is to ask questions and listen to your employees, vendors, suppliers and customers. Be thirsty to learn more and gather new ideas.
To help you continue your learning, click here to download a free copy of our highly popular, e-book, "Becoming a Strategic Business Owner". It's no coincidence, successful business leaders are voracious readers.
Daniel M. Murphy
President, Founder & Coach
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System