Attitude Drives Success

All the things I just mentioned are not in a business owner’s control – what is in the business’ control is how they react to the information. Like folks say in yoga, you can only control what is on your (yoga) mat. Your behavior is in your control. If you let the obstacle emotionally take over and have “stinking thinking,” those feelings and thoughts will manifest into the employees and business. Many employees follow by example, so if the business owner is focused on what they can’t do, the staff will also be.

Negative thinking impacts the whole organization – business owner, employees, and eventually the customer. How can someone buy from you, if they know that you don’t even believe in yourself - why should they believe in you? As a business owner, have you thought about how you handle the uncontrollables and your abilities? Do you know you can or are you complaining about what you can’t? Your attitude, thoughts, and behaviors impact the entire organization – think you can and also develop a plan, before you say you can’t.

Here is another great quote. This one was coined by Theodore Roosevelt - “Complaining about a problem without proposing a solution is called whining.” A positive attitude includes knowing you can, but also how you are going to overcome it. From experiences, some business owners like to complain about a decision or direction change in the industry, market, or franchisor, but offer no solution to overcome it. This will impact the employees as well – employees will follow based on the example they see. Business owners want to say “poor me,” this has happened to me – it has, but complaining about it will not fix it.

A plan of action, focus, and can-do attitude will help a small business overcome almost all obstacles. There is nothing wrong with venting and talking about the obstacles or changes – but prepare and take actionable steps to overcome obstacles and ensure longevity. As a business owner, believe in yourself and your abilities – know you can, lead through change, and make actionable plans. To drive success, you must adapt to changes and overcome obstacles with a positive attitude. Some companies that aren’t here anymore, but were very popular in the 80s and 90s didn’t adapt to changing customer needs and expectations, which put companies out of business.

Make sure as a business owner you are identifying predictable changes in your industry or business model – some obstacles can’t be solved on the back end. Those that showed a trend, but were ignored, may not be able to be fixed. Analyzing your business and updating your business plan annually is an integral part of recognizing trends and how to handle those now and in the future. If you need business coaching or consulting solutions for your business planning needs, reach out to a Small Business Consultant in Northwest Arkansas today at 479-935-2488.

Comprehensive Consulting Solutions for Small Businesses’ founder, Mollie Watkins, has a favorite quote by Henry Ford – “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.” To Mollie, the quote means that small business owners’ thoughts and actions can either drive them to their goals or inhibit them from reaching their goals. Many small business owners don’t realize how much their thinking impacts their business – to run a successful business, the entrepreneur must have a positive attitude. There are things that are out of control as a small business owner, the end result of how those uncontrollable incidents will impact your business is in the mind of the business owner. If a business owner believes they can overcome an obstacle and builds an action plan to do so – that small business will do so.

Obstacles may be hidden opportunities – if you don’t try, you won’t know. On the reverse, that business owner that complains about what they can’t do will not succeed and drive growth in the long-term. Life in general includes obstacles - that is part of living and is a part of the many puzzle pieces of running a business. You can’t control another person running into your car, hitting a deer, or wind pulling off your roof. You also can’t control increased cost of leads, change in tax laws, or change in franchisor direction.