Today, we are going to look at the top five things that hold us back from being awesome at business development. Let’s begin with a premise: in order for our business to improve, we must improve. So as we look at these five things, you’ll notice that they really have nothing to do with business at all. But as business leaders, owners, and developers, they each have a tremendous impact on the bottom-line results in our profession. Here they are:
1. Not having a solid grasp on our personal health. One example that we oftentimes don’t have control over is illness. Getting a random stomach bug or cold can obviously prevent you from growing your business. Well, we have to accept the fact that we don’t have control over everything, but we can certainly make a difference in the three main areas of health:
– The amount of sleep we get
– What we eat
– Exercise
Where are you in terms of these three areas, in terms of keeping yourself as healthy as possible? You have to keep your body rejuvenated consistently to achieve maximum productivity and business results.
2. Personal addictions. This can get very deep for some of us, but I’m going to use a light example, which is addiction to caffeine. If you’re a heavy caffeine user, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Imagine that you didn’t have enough caffeine early in the morning, or you really needed that caffeine and it wasn’t there. You end up being tremendously less productive, and you’re basically dependent on a substance to produce the results you want in business.
This is just a simple example, but if you think about other addictions that are more serious, of course they have a tremendous impact on the bottom-line success of our business. Of course those things are going to hold us back from making more money and having more success.
3. Personal conflict within our lives. This could be with our spouse, loved ones, children, or friends. Have you ever been so deeply involved in a personal conflict that it just encapsulated your mind? You can’t think about anything else but that conflict. This type of obsession will definitely hold you back. Most of time we fall into one of two groups in terms of how we respond to conflict:
– Those who fight – some of us want to argue and fight back.
– Those who flee – some of us want to avoid the conflict and simply run away.
Really, what we want to do is deal with the conflict in a healthy way, and neither of the above are real, long-term solutions. There are better ways, depending on the level of conflict. But there’s no doubt that conflicts in our personal lives affect the bottom line of our business.
4. Personal finances. Before we start, I just want to point out that there are people who actually produce more results in sales or business development when they’re a little stressed out, so this isn’t always true. But generally speaking, most of us do better in business development if we’re not totally stressed out to the max about personal finances. When our mind is clear and free of stressful distractions, we can then go and have a conversation, and really figure out what’s best for our prospect. People who are under a lot of personal financial stress will do business with clients they should’ve never worked with in the first place, and that’ll cause more stress in the long run. They’ll make a sale based on necessity, and so the margins may not be as good as usual. They may overwork themselves and ruin their health. It just doesn’t make sense.
To avoid falling into this trap, a good plan would be to spend less money than you earn. That’ll reduce stress in terms of personal finances. Also, having a plan on paper can do wonders, even if you’re not in the most ideal situation currently, at least you have a plan to get yourself out of it.
5. Again, this one’s a little bit deep. It’s about the wounds we all carry in our own lives. Now, as we look at sales, most of us have the fear of being that stereotypical pushy salesperson. That’s fairly normal, but some of us are dealing with something much deeper, a fear or doubt that stems back from our past, our childhood. And it’s a major obstacle that really needs to be worked on in a big way. Try seeking out a mental health professional who can dig into some of those issues from growing up. It does make a huge impact on our bottom line.
In closing, I want to challenge you to face reality and really work on these five areas. When you have control over them, you’ll increase and improve your bottom line.
Go out, take action, make it a better than amazing day.
