Gain Higher Ground

The road in setting up any business – online or offline – is very bumpy indeed.

What I’ve learned since I started out in my 3 years online is that yes there are easy ways and shortcuts and it is worth investing some of your time and money in learning and receiving good advice from those who have gone before you.

However, it’s just impossible to eliminate all difficulties from your life and whatever you do these bumps in the road will still keep “coming at you”.

For many people starting out I’ve noticed they can get severely diseffected and demoralised by the problems they face and many of course, just give up blaming either bad luck, bad timing or simply themselves (“I’m just not up to this”).

What contributes to this is that a lot of us feel alone with the issues we face, especially online because when you start out it literally is just you and the computer!

Not only that but people look towards successful people (the folks that are where they would like to be) and everything seems so rosy. They appear relaxed, knowledgeable and polished in their approach.

When I was looking to start a business of some kind (and before I focused in on the internet as the model I wanted to follow) I attended a seminar where a very well known business person from the TV show Dragons Den was giving a presentation.

What really struck me was how candid and frank he was about the struggles he’d had.  For example, he explained how it took him years to turn his small business into a medium sized one: Winning contracts, then losing them, employees deserting at critical times, etc etc

But to look at his designer suit and relaxed demeanour you would have never guessed this was the case!

Since then I’ve attended many events and meetups where I’ve been able to speak with successful business people. And guess what? The story is exactly the same every time.

There isn’t a SINGLE person who is successful who hasn’t experienced challenges, potential “show stoppers” and seemingly insolvable problems along the way.

So I just wanted to let you know that you are not the only one!

In the last 12 months I’ve experience countless challenges, problems and difficulties ranging from corrupt websites, to miscommunications with joint venture partners and traffic failures.

If you follow me on this blog you’ll know I do write about some of these (e.g., here) as well as my successes. But obviously even I don’t share everything!

So I think this is worth pointing out and also my attitude in dealing with challenges:

1) I always try and adopt a “whatever it takes” attitude

2) I remember that every challenge I face whether technical or strategic is yet another point when someone else would quit thinking, “Oh, this is all just to hard.”

So if you keep this in mind then you’ll realise that every bump in the road is actually yet another opportunity to get ahead and progress forward.

Not only that but with this correct mindset you can do so with increased confidence so that – despite what you may feel in weaker moments – you are actually more than capable of overcoming challenges in the future and achieving whatever you wish.

Agree/Disagree? Would LOVE to hear your thoughts, comments and experiences and recommendations on this! Please help spread the word by Tweeting and Liking if you enjoyed this. Let’s talk below… Rob

{ 27 comments }