Do you know how people become successful? They hustle! Well, that is part of it. But the truth is, most successful people absolutely love what they do! And the don’t have just one thing they’re passionate about, but several things. The passion they have, drives them to their success. But how do you choose what we’re passionate about? And furthermore, how do you get good enough to really become successful? Well, you start with a strategy and plan. Here are my personal favorite 7 TOP TIPS for success!
1. Persevere In Love
To persevere in love means to, “press on with a love for the work you do” or “in all you do, love it”. Truth is, we don’t enjoy life when we are doing the things we don’t want to do, and we usually won’t do our best work on the things we dread doing. Similarly, we don’t want to stop doing the things we love to do because we want to do our best at it. So, you must do what you love, and freaking be the best at it! It really is that simple, but not so easy! Whatever you do, love to do it with all your heart, because you never give up on the things, you’re truly passionate about. And no matter what we peruse, nothing in life is easy. As the saying goes, “if it were easy everyone would do it!” Aways remember this, perseverance will always result in a breakthrough. Keep going and continue to push yourself forward, and watch the magic happen! Most people give up when things get too hard, and that is why they never succeed. However, those that embrace the challenges, knowing every adversity makes them stronger ad gets them one step closer to their dream; well, those are the ones that “persevere in love”. There is no greater joy than accomplishing something we feel passionate about and overcoming all the challenges we met along the way. A journey lived without love for something, is not a journey lived at all.
2. Learn To Be Teachable
Number 2 on my list is to “Listen and learn a lot”. Be teachable! If you’re not learning new things and taking in constructive criticism, you’ll most likely never succeed. Or you will really struggle to succeed which will end in consistent failure, which, in most cases, results in giving up. If you can’t listen to new ideas, train yourself to listen long enough to hear what others have to say, and get out of your own way, you won’t succeed. Bottom line! Unfortunately, success is never done alone. You will eventually need help from mentors, inventors, coaches or someone else, Because the truth is, you will provide better services by listening to those who have had success. They can and will teach you how to overcome certain adversity and obstacles you may have in the future. And I an not saying you should go and listen to every voice in your ear. But, If you can’t take honesty from outsiders and learn what is good advice and what is bad advice, you will never succeed. There will always be times when we ALL must listen and learn. To lead others means to be the example of how important it is to listen and learn new things. Leaders must be open minded and willing to learn so others can see what it means to listen and learn! Don’t underestimate the quiet guy in the room. If you can’t listen to your staff, you won’t earn their trust or respect and they will not work as hard as they could have. You will have a business that runs with horrible communication skills, lack of production, and no motivation. Worse, you will always be lacking in development and growth. So, start out with a teachable mentality and continue to be teachable no matter how successful you think you are, If you don’t listen to your clients, customers, or consumers you will lose them, get bad reviews, and will not be building a trustworthy brand. Which brings me to my next tip…
3. Always Stay Humble
Don’t be a cocky asshole! “Sorry, I had to say it!” Let’s face it, humility produces better workers, better clients, and a higher success rate in any business, or relationship. We don’t have to take everyone’s advice, but we should “consider” it with humility. Don’t discount everything and everyone just because its out of your belief system or it takes you out of your comfortable zone. Get over it! Arrogance is “having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance or abilities. There is always a different way to do things, and your way is not the only right way! I personally wouldn’t do business with an arrogant person! It’s as simple as that! I am not saying to demean or lower your standards to appease other people. Of course not!!! Be perceptive, receptive and keep an open mind. But we must have some kind of gratitude and be aware of where we’ve been and where we’re heading in life an in our sucess. To be humble means you should be “teachable and willing”. It should come as no surprise that when we have humility, the rest of the things in this list come effortlessly.
4. Learn the Practice of Patience
I know I get it; this one is a difficult one for many of us. If only I had my mother’s patience. I admit that I did and still do occasionally, struggle with having patience. But let me first start by saying that patience is not equal to being taken advantage of. With that said, I used to always say: “I have no patience for incompetence” But who is incompetent really? Again, remember humility? Just because someone’s views are different than mine doesn’t make them incompetent. I’ve seen some people I thought were “freaking idiots” become super successful overnight. Little did I know, they used their “incompetence” and turned it into a trend. Go figure! However, I do try to always hold a value on my time and other people’s time. I don’t want to waste time on things that degrade my value or someone else’s. Time holds major value to me, and I make use of that time in every moment of every day. Listen, time is on your side. I know it doesn’t appear that way, but it’s true. Time is useful and helpful in all seasons of life. Time allows you to live life with more potential for “creating and waiting”. Sometimes, life gives you time to sit in your thoughts and regain clarity. So, take your time when creating anything new or recreating something old. Know that your time of waiting is a journey you won’t want to miss out on, it’s a tine to learn, grow, and in the process practice patience. Enjoy the experiences and be excited about the unexpected events that occur. Be patient in the journey to success. This brings me to my next and favorite tip…
5. Enjoy The journey
You must enjoy the journey in every season of life. The journey can be hard sometimes, YES! But even the hard times are worth it! Did you ever notice the hard times pass just as quickly as the good times do? It’s easy to get overwhelmed because our human nature is in such a hurry to get to the end result of our goal. Unfortunately, that causes us to miss out on some of life’s most important lessons, and we miss gaining the wisdom needed for the next season of life. Struggles make us stronger, not weaker! It is wise to leave breathing room to see the bigger picture. To see everything in the path ahead, because we took time out to enjoy the journey, makes the path easier to walk. Take it ALL in. If I could offer any advice, that I wish I had taken myself, it would be, don’t be in such a hurry to get to the top of the mountain. remember patience. Imagine all the things we could avoid if we paid closer attention to the details of our past. If we actually stopped to breath and recognize our patterns, behaviors, and choices. Well, we could avoid many mistakes that we will inevitably make again. Take it for me, someone who has continued to make the same mistakes, you could end up at the bottom of the same mountain again, and again, and again, if you don’t embrace and enjoy the journey now. If we don’t take the time to learn along our journey through life, and enjoy the lessons in it, we continue to make the same mistakes over and over. Making the journey miserable. Of course, we can’t enjoy the journey when we know we keep doing the same things over, and over again! Right? So, a good tip for success, that I wish I had paid closer attention to, was to just embrace and enjoy the journey!
“Making the same mistakes over and over trying to get a different result is insanity”.
By Albert Einstein
Make new choices that you can learn from. Make decisions that get different results and mostly enjoy the journey. I’ve learned from my own experience, and from being a good listener from those who went before me, that it makes the journey much more exciting when we’re paying attention.
“Embrace the unknown and be excited about the unexpected”
6. Learn To Embrace Competition
Next on my 7 tip tips for success is, “Embracing competition”. No one is going to steal your ideas, and no one is going to beat you to the finish line. We get so caught up in what other people think, not realizing that there is enough room for everyone to succeed. I don’t see McDonald’s and Burger King shutting down any time soon. They’ve been successful for years! Not to mention, have you noticed all the burger joints out there? Come’ on! There is room for everyone to shine! Look, embracing competition is healthy! We need competition to bring out our “A GAME” every time! Competition is healthy! Competition moves us all forward faster. We ALL strive higher when we have competition. The problems arise when we become fearful of failure or scared, we will miss out on opportunities. So, we bash our competitors or get lost in our own game. There is enough room for everyone to grow and expand. There are no limits here! Embrace your competition, make it fuel your fire, and don’t get intimidated by others who want to succeed too. In fact, help others succeed and build a team that thrives on integrity together. Remember, “We are better together”. Do you know why all the big brands survive? They bring something a little different to the table and they thrive on competition. Pepsi, coke, all the many fast-food chains. There is a consumer for each brand and there is a consumer for your brand too!!! Don’t be afraid of the competition, thrive because you have competition.
7. Focus on Customer Satisfaction
I know many of you will say “customer satisfaction” is a given! It’s a “no brainer”. Right? But there are still those people who think because they’re the boss they are entitled. And having an “Entitlement attitude” will get you nowhere in the real world! Also, audience and tone matters! If we are not reaching the right audience with the right tone, we fail! Bottom line! Furthermore, if we don’t continue to satisfy our customers, we also fail. How educated are you as an entrepreneur on the “bottom line and top-line growth”? Customer satisfaction should be warranted, as long as it doesn’t conflict with the overall business plans for growth. I know I just got really technical really fast! Sorry! Not sorry! But after some much-needed research on my own business, I had to mention this. I can honestly say that I’ve learned the hard way! Sometimes as a business owner, our business “plans” change! As production and time evolve, the business must shift and develop new modifications to flow with those changes. And if you are not paying attention, the direction of a business could crash overnight. If our “top-line growth” doesn’t measure up with our “bottom-line growth” we fail. In short, the “bottom line” is a company’s net income, and the “top line” is the company’s revenue or gross sales. I suck at numbers so this concept was difficult for me to learn. Without getting too technical I will try to break it down in laymen terms.
We all strive to meet customer satisfaction, because let’s face it, without customers, we have no business. Right?! However, we can’t continue to focus all our attention on satisfying customers if success of our business is struggling to meet the “bottom line goals”. DID YOU HEAR THAT? Let me repeat that “we CANNOT keep satisfying customers if we are struggling to meet our ‘bottom line goals” (the company’s net income). Eventually we will be out of business and with NO customers! Sometimes, business owners are forced to make hard decisions. Increase the top line, (the company’s revenue or gross sales) try to filter down (lower or subtract) and boost the bottom line. That is where we get our profits from. If there is no profit, we can’t survive. It’s common freaking sense and all customers know this! NO NEGOTIATION HERE! We all know a company has to make a profit or they can’t survive. We pay the higher raised prices at restaurants, grocery stores etc. without negotiating.
So, make the “right customers happy” to exceed your goals, and increase the bottom line! If they trust you and your brand, they will pay the prices you charge. If they don’t, well you are probably better off without those who always want a deal. Believe me when I say, they will be more of a headache to you in the future. Or continue to “appease the wrong customers” and never meet the company goals. As a result, you will end up hating what you once loved. Don’t feel bad about making better business decisions! It is your business after all! If your customers had your job, they would do the same thing. Trust me!!! You know this! And look I am all for giving back!” I am all for FREEBEES!!!” After you exceed your goals give a little back to those that deserve your generosity. Take care of the ones who took care of you and supported your business. But, if you’re struggling to stay afloat in your business, you must come up with new strategies and troubleshoot a new plan.
We will always have people who are dissatisfied with some things we do or say. Successful people don’t allow others to make business decisions that will make life miserable for them. “A few pennies to one’s pocket could mean a huge loss for the bottom line”. Prepare to build the business you want to have tomorrow as if you have that success already today. I am sharing this because I have done this and had to fail a lot to learn. I hope I can help just person avoid making some of these mistakes I’ve made on my journey. Believe me when I say if you don’t feel worthy of your services, you will provide less than adequate service. And how can you feel worthy if you are not being compensated for your time, energy and effort? So really, we’re doing our customers a disservice by not satisfying our bottom line and reaching our own goals. Remember, you must satisfy yourself by meeting and exceeding your business goals before you can offer anyone else satisfaction. Or otherwise, what’s the dam point of having your own business?
Conclusion
These are my favorite 7 Top Tips for Success that I’ve learned along my journey. I wish someone would have told me, or maybe they did, and I was too stubborn to listen. Are there any tips you have for success? Share some of the things you’ve learned on your journey or things you are struggling with. By sharing, learning and growing together we can all succeed! I wish I knew some of this when I started out, because learning later in the game is much more difficult to manage. Get a handle on that now! The sooner the better! Don’t forget, continue to learn, and make mistakes. Doing a little research will help avoid some of those mistakes ahead of time. They are there for growth in the journey of success. Always stay Humble and have patience. Enjoy the Journey, never fear the Competition, and allow all things to manifest! Don’t be afraid to “up your A-game”! Offer bigger, better services but be sure to “cover your bottom’! If you know what I mean?
