This could be the difference between 6 figures or the difference between landing more clients, or a new job.   I’ve decided to write this because a large amount of business owners are failing left and right.

I’ve launched over 15 successful businesses and produced well over 59 products over the years; starting in my college years…and it started to happen once I changed my mindset and the basic fundamentals below…

I consulted a large amounts of businesses that have turned into six figure businesses and even surpassing me because what I’m about to tell you.

Now I’m not hear to brag about me; I’m here to talk about you…

Let me start out by talking about education.  Fortunately both my parents, dad being a professor emphasized the importance of education.  Of course I struggled a lot, but education played a huge role as it will for you.

Kudos to our teachers and educators.  We learn all these skills throughout our life, and most of it we will never remember.

What?  Yes, you hear that right.  However while that is so, education and application knowledge play a huge role in your success.  Learning helps shape our character, hard work, work ethics, persistence, patience, which allows us to grow.

Keep that keyword in your head (GROWTH)

Success can be measured by many things.  Some people measure it by how many things you have in life, money, how many people you have impacted, how many people you have outreached to, etc….

How we grow, in knowledge, application, character, relationships, and more; is the make it or break it point at which determines our success.  Without growth, you will not enjoy your job, you will have big dreams, but will never take action; or you perspective of life will be negative.

You’ve seen people just float through life with little purpose, and wonder why. We’ll if you are that type of person, you can change that.  But that’s up to you.  In fact you will change if you want, but it’s your choice.

Read on…

Think about the people around you who are negative all the time. Do you see them impacting others, growing, etc?  While yes I have seen some successful people who are like this, but its very rare.

I see this all the time; both in the business world with start up businesses, and personal life.

So how do you grow?

1 - Know that you are not always right.  You are imperfect, but you can improve.

People that think they know everything, don’t listen before making presumptions, and are closed minded will not grow.  Remind you of anyone?  Maybe yourself?

Now, those that know they can learn and take constructive criticism will grow…and thereby these types of people generally are happier which leads to growth.  Growth leads to success with persistence of course.

I used to get offended, until I realized I needed feedback to grow; and only till I started asking for feedback did my business succeed.  My products became known for their quality because I took what my customers wanted, and improved on it.

I know several people who have big dreams, but they stay in the same spot because they believe they are always right.  They can’t make up their minds either.

In the business world, these people never make it because their customers want one thing, but they think they want another thing; so their business fails, just like the rest of the 95% out there.

Same applies to our own personal life.  So seriously this is a biggy.  Be open to feedback, otherwise you will never grow, and never reach your goals.

2 - Learn something new!

Read a new book, take a class, learn something new!  Knowledge isn’t worth anything unless applied, but can help you grow in areas you are weak in.  Grow those areas and grow your strengths and watch as your success rate increases.

Another reason why education is so important.  At the same time, I know high school drop outs that are millionaires, only because they are self motivated to learn.  But the point is, education plays a huge role; whether you are educated in school or educate yourself.

Anyways, let’s move on…

3 - Stop jumping from idea to idea

I’m guilty of this, because of my A.D.D. but once you learn to control this, A.D.D. is no longer an excuse.  If you know me personally, you will notice that I jump from one thing to another quick; it’s because I have tons of ideas floating through my head.  So jumping from idea to idea isn’t easy to stop, but it can be done.

You can pretty much surpass a lot.  Let’s say you get this cool idea, so you start applying it.  2 weeks later you find a better idea and you start this.

If you do this you will going around in circles.  Just like marketing.  Business owners will find a great way to market their products, and then jump from one idea to another; but wonder why in the world they aren’t bringing in any sales.  Another reason why so many businesses fail within their first year.

If you see a cool idea, write it down but move on, finish what you started.  You are guaranteed to hit roadblocks along the way, but keep going.

I’m going to leave you in this letter with one more method.

4 - What’s in it for me?

This is a specific method I use when I close deals, etc.  Also could be known as knowing your audience.

Let’s say you want a new job.  When you write your resume, look at your audience’s perspective, in this case your employer.  Figure out what the company wants.  It varies from company to company.  In fact, just read their purpose statement.   I did this for 9 jobs applied to and got interviews for 8; I decided to take one, duh.  That was when I had a day job.

Let’s say you want to close a deal.  Know the other business very very well, and see their perspective.  Look at what they want.  Again, it varies.  Right now I don’t really market my custom video production services, but through realizing I am not perfect and creating products people really want, I have created a demand for services which lead to large contract deals.

My point here is too many people look at their own perspective without LISTENING, an don’t look at who they are talking to.  In turn, they never get what they want.

Now the above applies to business, jobs, career goals.  I can’t comment on your love life, etc.

While this stuff sounds pretty straightforward, simply changing your mindset to the above will help you grow; and reach your goals faster.   More importantly, it makes you a better person all around, not just with your career, business, or jobs.

Good luck!

Stephen