One of the hardest things in business, is to accept that your current strategy is taking you nowhere. When we have invested our time, emotion, money and made a lot of sacrifices in an effort to develop our business, it’s hard to look in the mirror and accept we need a new direction.
The problem with hard work
When we work hard on something, we expect to see results. With small business owners, if the results are not good enough, the temptation is to work even harder or work longer hours.
In my experience, the reason most small businesses fail is NOT because small business owners are lazy and need to work more and more hours. The reason they fail, is that they are often working hard, doing the wrong things.
The beauty of gravity
Whether you know what gravity is or not, it still works. If you flip a coin, it will not hang in mid air, simply because no one explained how gravity works to you. Those who work hard on developing their business, doing the wrong things, yet expecting to make the progress they desire, may as well wait for a coin to hang in mid air.
Of course, the beauty of gravity is that when we embrace it, we can make it work for us. By learning how gravity works (like a child learning to walk), we can make progress with it. Similarly, when you either learn how to improve your strategy or hire someone, who already has the business development answers you need, you can start making the progress you desire. The biggest challenge, is accepting that your current business development strategy is not working.
The bottom line: If you are not seeing the progress you want from your business and you are already working hard, change your strategy.