Written by: Steve Bredschneider, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
That’s right! It’s a system, but it requires a complete change in mindset to make the system work. Suppose you’re like most business operators; you started your company to replace your income. You’ve learned as much as possible from your mentor, and now you have all the skills and knowledge necessary to start your own company. But there are roadblocks. Do you know how to manage your business? Do you know how to inspire your employees? Do you know how to do the bookkeeping? The chances are that to the majority of these questions; the answer is no.
So you continue to operate your business. You do the actual work physically; you hire one or two people and no more because that’s manageable. You do the bookkeeping, creating invoices, paying bills, collecting payment. You set your employees to tasks and expect them to complete them efficiently and successfully without costing you time or money while trying to keep your customers happy. You pay them the least you can to keep them hungry and the most you can to stop them from leaving. You encourage working overtime. These are ARCHAIC practices that started in the 1500s that have never changed. It’s rooted in our society, and it’s a shitty model to try and improve on.
This model leads to much stress for the business operator and usually ends with the company being sold at a discount from where the business operator thinks the company's value should be. It sometimes leaves the business operator needing a job to continue to pay their bills. Not such a successful approach, right?
Most business operators fail to grow their businesses because of thoughts of lack and limitation. They often find themselves competing with other companies that are in the same trade, industry or profession. Competing never leads to success.
So, where does one begin to create the success that they want? Well, let’s define success. It’s different for everyone you meet. Even the definition of success in the dictionary is vague and ambiguous. Earl Nightingale coined the phrase, “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” I love that. Success is achieving a small step toward a goal. If you complete a step, well, you’re experiencing success. You’re more successful in completing the step than you were without completing it. If you have failed while taking a step, it’s not a complete failure. It’s a lesson. You only experience complete failure if you give up on your worthy ideal, which is a goal you want to achieve.
Now, here’s the problem that most business operators face. They don’t have a goal. They start their business to replace their income, and they keep doing whatever comes next. They grow their business until the income is enough to pay for their basic needs and have a little extra to do things with. They rarely have a vision of how big a company they want to build and what the income from such a company can do for them. They rarely take an hour per day to envision a hugely successful company, meditate on it, write out their goal, and decide what action they will complete that day to take them and their business closer to their desired outcome. This leads to a state of complacency. Complacency is the death of growth.
I’ve often met business owners that ask questions like, “Is this all there is?” or “I want more, but I’m already stretched to the maximum.” These questions are valid and are questions that come from our genetic makeup as human beings. Humans are goal-achieving organisms. We set out to achieve things, and when stagnation sets in, we get lost in the idea that we can’t do more. This is all mindset.
While growing up, we get exposed to shitty ideas like, “There’s not enough money to go around, and you have to fight for what you want.” or “You have to work hard long hours to accumulate riches.” Both ideas are bullshit, they’ve always been bullshit, and those that will tell you that they work 80 hour weeks are bullshitting themselves as well as you. Success doesn’t come from working long, hard hours. They come from a clearly defined vision, backed by solid plans and the desire to achieve it. But nothing happens unless you take action, and that’s the hard part. Taking action.
Just as you get into the habits that run your daily life, a mindset of success must become a habit. You have to exchange old bad habitual ideas for new good ideas that will propel you forward. You have to change the mindset of complacence to a philosophy of prosperity. You have to spend one hour a day making these changes.
Taking action is a lot easier if you believe that you can have all the prosperity in all aspects of your life if you desire to make changes. Our beliefs hold us back from taking action. We have to re-tune our conscious thoughts to create that belief, and that takes work. It’s not hard work. It’s fun and exciting. It’s as simple as imagining your life as prosperous as you want it to be, writing it out, and setting a long-term goal. Get together with a mastermind group, which is you and at least one other person, and start masterminding on how you can help each other achieve your goal. Then create a plan and execute it as fast as you can. When it scares you, your mastermind group is there to support you. Push through the fear, and you’ll achieve your goals faster than you can imagine.
Daily practice is what it takes. Meditation, imagination, insight, co-creation, belief, planning and action. It’s so simple. The only limitations are those set up in your own mind, and when you start to realize that the limitations are bullshit someone else taught you, you’ll have a breakthrough and begin to make some real changes.
Steve Bredschneider, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Steve Bredschneider is a Certified Proctor Gallagher Consultant. Continually mentored by the legendary Bob Proctor, the world’s foremost instructor in personal development and human potential. Steve has been studying under Bob for ten years and has become an expert in helping organizations and individuals achieve goals and dreams.
There is a simple system to achieving all you want, and Steve has dedicated his life to understanding, using, and teaching that system. Steve knows that there is no way you can fail using the system unless you quit.
Steve is a former Air Cadet, mechanic, and Certified Engineering Technologist. With this background of discipline, structure, and ethical behaviour Steve has brought the best aspects of leadership, instructional techniques, and organization skills to the table for the benefit of his clients. Steve knows how to take all this knowledge and break it into bite-sized chunks to enable his clients to increase their awareness, understand the material, and use this understanding in practical application in their lives. This results in increasing the quality of their lives and improved results for organizations and businesses’ bottom lines.
