Einstein once said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created the problem.”
While Einstein was known in the scientific community for his theory of relativity, he was genius in his approach to many aspects of his life, including mindset. What the truly successful know is that mindset is of major importance and not a little thing to be ignored. Your mindset steers the ship that is your life, your focus, your business.
While focusing on mindset may be a good strategic addition to your business plan, the tactics needed to deploy are just as important. From experience, I’d like to share some of what’s worked for me:
Focus on What YOU Do Best and Hire the Rest.
While fully implementing this tactic in my business today, it took some evolution to get there. See, way back when I started out in the apparel industry, customers came to know me as “John, the Shirt Guy.” In the beginning, this served me well. When people needed shirts, I got the call. The problem was a person only needs so many shirts, and the moniker prevented me being considered for other business opportunities. I quickly realized that to grow my business, I needed to branch out, often making both challenging and a bit frightening decisions during this period of change.
Decision #1: Partner with an established leader in the marketing, promotional product and brand communication world. For me, that decision was to join Proforma, a partnership that directly impacted my business. In fact, I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard, “You mean you’re giving up piece of your business!?” What they failed to realize is that giving up a piece of nothing (business I was not getting on my own), equates to nothing. So I followed my own intuition, stepped out of my comfort zone, and against the smaller minded perspective of some of those around me, saw my business grow significantly. Doubling my business with the mindset of time utilization allows me to focus on what I do best while others do the rest.
Decision #2: Identify one true partner to assist in accelerating the company growth and capitalize on the diverse product offerings of Proforma. While trying to find a partner for my business moved a bit slow in the beginning, it was necessary. There was a feeling out process getting started. We both thought to ourselves, “Are we really competitors or partners?” It took some more risk and once again placed me outside of my comfort zone. Ultimately, it was another lucky and wise decision. First and foremost, it created an immediate accountability partner, and with him, we were going to either grow, stagnate or shrink together. As I got to know my new colleague, I confirmed that he was a true professional, an industry veteran and most importantly, someone I could trust. We could take on any project, in any realm, bringing additional expertise to our clients; accounting for another doubling of our business.
Decision #3: Evolution. Together we have chosen to undertake digital marketing, a massive area of opportunity for the growth of our business. While not yet comfortable in this market, hiring industry experts with whom we have strong business bonds, allows us to not only be able to talk the talk, but walk the walk.
With a track record of success and confidence in the model of focusing on what we do best and hiring the rest, we’re excited to grow our portfolio and learn along the way.
It’s time to think big for your business. Time to leverage your expertise, because expertise breeds confidence. Confidence allows you to conquer challenges you have failed to pursue in the past. Attack big opportunities and grow beyond anything you could have imagined by simply shifting your mindset. If you’re committed to success, you have to (and will) change your mindset and perspective along your personal journey to the top.
