Hi
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog on this subject but it was very different. On that occasion I said that your emails needed to stand out from the crowd to be read.
And a lot of you agreed with
me.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. You see to really stand out from the crowd you need to overcome your limiting beliefs and be comfortable 'being different'.
That's what successful entrepreneurs do. They don't follow conventional wisdom or the well-trodden
path.
But just like you and me they weren't always this way; they had the same upbringing, during which we were indoctrinated with limiting beliefs like work hard, get qualifications and a good job, and you'll be successful. The outdated mindset from the industrial revolution when education was devised to turn out workers who would go to work in the factory and conform.
In our teens we worked hard at being like our peers - conforming, not standing out.
Our education system has a lot to answer for. The UK has the highest rate of business start-ups per capita in Europe and the highest rate of business failures. 80% of those that start up. Not
surprising in the information age with a system designed for the industrial age.
And at the end of their working lives most people don't have enough money to independently support themselves without government assistance. And for the 'self-employed' the position is usually worse.
That wasn't a
problem when pensions were designed in the 1870s; average life expectancy was between 50 and 55 not he 80 to 85 it is today. Most companies never paid for pensions when people retired because they usually died before then.
But I digress......we may come back to pensions crisis in a future blog.......but this one is about what the 5% of business owners who are successful entrepreneurs do
differently from the rest.
They unlearn. they change their mindset and the way they think.
And the reason so few - just 5% - make it is interesting. It isn't that the rest can't, it's because they aren't aware they have to. That's what conformity does for
you.
You see your mind hates failure......nearly as much as it hate change. And as our brains are all wired to protect us, our first reaction to anything that threatens us is fight or flight. It is only by overcoming the normal fear inducing emotions and deciding to be different that we achieve sustainable success.
Neuro-clinicians call it 'brain based effectiveness' because its the act of taking control of our brains which otherwise will follow the limiting beliefs indoctrinated in us from our well-meaning parents, teachers and so-called experts.
So the next time you're pissed off at not seeing the results in your business you'd like, or able to make the life choices you
want for your family, or knowing you have the potential but not realising it, put on your brown trousers and get out of your comfort zone. The answers you need are within your unconscious but the problem is, you're unconscious to them. They are outside of your awareness which is why Carl Jung said: "Until you make the unconscious conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate".
And if you haven't already taking up my offer of a complementary one hour 'Be different in 2017' phone call with me, please do so now by booking your call at https://calendly.com/noelguilford/be-different-in-2017.
Noel Guilford
Noel Guilford is the principal of Guilford Accounting a small business
accountancy practice specialising in advising owner-managed businesses on current accounting, finance, and tax matters. You can reach him via email at noel@guilfordaccounting.co.uk or by phone at 01244 660866. He is the author of the best selling book 'Figure it out - an entrepreneurs guide to understanding your business
numbers' which you can obtain by visiting http://guilfordaccounting.co.uk.