Is wishful thinking killing your business?

Today’s post is a very personal one.  I have written it exclusively for those of you, who are going through a tough time with your business and want to put it right.

As a marketing professional with over 20 years experience, I can assure you that right now, there are people in your industry doing  very poorly, whilst others are enjoying incredible success.  They will be working the same number of hours and just as hard as each other, yet seeing completely different results.

Here’s why:

• Those who are enjoying great success, are doing the right things correctly.
• Those who are struggling, are not.

Thankfully, to massively improve your situation, you simply need to know what you are doing wrong and replace it with the strategy required for success.  I say “simply,” because it’s actually a lot easier, less expensive and less frustrating, to follow the path of success, than it is to waste your time, money and energy, working hard on the wrong things.

Why do so many businesses fail then?

The challenge with this common sense approach to business success, is that most small business owners simply do not have the expertise to fix what’s wrong with their business.  They might know that they need to make a lot more sales or attract more high quality clients, but they have no idea how.  Amazingly, only a tiny percentage will ask an expert for help.

When I started out as a marketing coach, I used to wonder why so few small business owners used expert help, even when they knew they were in trouble and really needed it.  Like many people, I assumed it was all about money.  I quickly found out that was wrong!

Here’s what I found.

It has nothing, zero, zilch to do with money

The biggest misconception about those who hire expert help and those who do not, is that it is a purely a question of money.  It isn’t!

For example, many of my clients over the past 15 years were in serious financial difficulty when they hired me, only turning the corner afterwards.  Equally, I have spoken to people, who were easily able to afford expert help, yet decided not to and went broke needlessly.  I see examples of that kind of mindset every day and I am sure you do too.  One guy once told me that he spent $5 a day at Starbucks, (that’s around $1,300 a year) yet he couldn’t afford to pay a local copy writer to rewrite his shockingly poor marketing letters.  It’s totally down to mindset!

I have found that the decision to either hire expert help or avoid it, has a lot to do with wishful thinking over positive thinking.

Wishful thinking

Wishful thinking kills businesses!  I have literally lost count of the number of former business owners, who told me that they wasted years, waiting for things to ” just get better!”  Of course, we know that things do not just get better by themselves.

For your situation to improve, the actions you take need to improve.  This only happens, when you are making better quality decisions, based on knowing exactly what to do.  It’s basic cause and effect – a universal rule of life.  The wishful thinking approach tries to bypass cause and effect.

It’s like the farmer “wishfully thinking” he will have a bountiful harvest this year, even though he planted the wrong seeds at the wrong time in the wrong soil.  It’s nothing more than self delusion.

Positive thinking

Ironically, many people confuse positive thinking with wishful thinking, yet they are total opposites.

Positive thinking tells us that providing we do the right things correctly, we can achieve amazing results.  Positive thinking assures us (quite rightly) that we hold the key to our future success and no one else.  It’s a beautiful, liberating and extremely effective mindset.

Positive thinkers know what they want and refuse to lower their goals and dreams, to fit the disappointment of an under-performing business.  Wishful thinkers do the opposite.  Every wishful thinking business owner I have ever met, started out with dreams and ambitions about where they wanted to live and the lifestyle they wanted to achieve – then lowered and lowered their expectation, as their business reached a plateau.

Can people change?

Yes, they can.  I see it all the time in my business.  I work with clients, who are now enjoying enormous success; having previously wasted years with a business that was going nowhere.  In fact, 50% of my current clients fitted that description when they joined me.

The wonderful thing about life, is that anyone at any time can decide to change direction for the better.  Where you are today is not where you need to be tomorrow.  There are proven experts out there, who can give you the answers you need in all the key areas of your business.  The decision to use them, as always, is yours.

Jim Connolly can help you grow your business and achieve the breakthrough marketing results your hard work deserves. To find out more, simply click here!