The economic climate is changing, your customers are changing, your competition is changing, your business is changing…..but what are you changing? Makes you think doesn’t it? For some reason every time I turn around at the moment I seem to be getting whacked on the head with a big lump of wood with the words “CHANGE IS NIGH” carved along its length. This change is coming at every level in my life and some of it is great, some of it is a little tough and challenging. 

But what I know is that when everything around us is in a state of turmoil, we have two options. The first is to duck for cover and wait to see what happens. A perfectly good strategy but the problem is that when you come up out of your basement, you may find that your house has blown away and you are no longer in Kansas with an irritating little dog called Toto humping your leg. The other option is to look this change in the eye, embrace it and make it work for you. 

We all know that trying to paddle upstream is really a waste of time. It takes a lot of energy and if we manage to get where we thought we wanted to be, we don’t have any energy to enjoy it. But if we go with the flow and let the river do all of the hard work, all we have to do is steer the canoe (and avoid the odd waterfall and crocodile). 

So what on earth am I trying to say here? Change is all around us at the moment. Don’t be afraid of it, don’t hide from it, enjoy the ride, keep an eye ahead for rapids and think about all the great things you will be able to do when you arrive at your destination.

Be prepared to step up and change what you are doing. If you are too rigid, or too fearful of change, it will still happen, but the process and the outcome will be far less enjoyable. Remember to enjoy the journey and your life will be whole lot more rewarding. 

We all make mistakes, especially in business. There is a no “Golden Rule” book to follow to guarantee our success, unfortunately we have to figure it out as we go. I often meet business owners who beat themselves up over the mistakes they have made in the past. There is no benefit in doing this, but it is hard not to. The big problem is that business owners can lose confidence in themselves and stop taking risks, which is the underpinning and essential characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. 

Please don’t beat yourself over mistakes you have made in the past. They are wonderful opportunities that can save you enormous grief and money in the future. Let me explain.

With a 25 year business history it is fair to say I have made more than my fair share of mistakes. I used to beat myself about this all the time until one day I realised that this really served no purpose. I felt the need to come to terms with my mistakes and then to turn the mistake into a learning experience that I could profit from. 

So now whenever I make a mistake, large or small, in particular one that cost me money, I tell myself that I have just completed another lesson in life and this lesson has cost me “x” amount of dollars. I look at this as an investment in myself and I believe that next time a similar situation arises, I won’t make the same mistake, which will end up saving me, or making me, far more money than I initially lost. 

I had a situation that cost me about $100,000 a few years back. I did some work for a telecommunications company and I was going to get paid a commission for the results I achieved, which in this case was the number of telephone accounts I generated for the business.

I did a huge amount of work but sadly the company went broke. Even sadder for me, I had generated about a 1000 new accounts over a 6 month period. This really knocked the wind out of my sails, especially after all of the time and energy that I had invested and the other work I had knocked back to focus on this project.

Today similar opportunities present themselves to me all the time and I refuse to take part in any joint venture arrangement unless I know that my JV partner is financially secure. My “learning lesson” a few years back has gone on to not only save me a pile of money, now it is now making me a good deal of money. 

I have had so many of these experiences I could write a book about them. In fact I use many of these experiences in my books and my keynote presentations to illustrate the points that I want to make. 

Smart, successful people learn and grow from their mistakes. Even though this can be really hard, get angry, get upset, then let the dust settle and turn the experience into one that you can profit from. 

If you don’t take some risks, you won’t get the chance to succeed.
While you are trying, you are winning.

The law of averages is on your side.
The more you try, the greater your chance of succeeding.
Never get discouraged.

Every wrong attempt is another step forward.
People that make no mistakes usually don’t make anything.

Make up your mind not merely to overcome a thousand obstacles,
but to win in spite of a thousand defeats.

Your mistakes are stepping stones to success and
Your installment payments to victory.

You can’t be a winner and be afraid to lose.

From the Daily Guru

I came across the following recently and I strongly believe and support the concept of embracing change, in every part of our lives. Sometimes it is a little uncomfortable, but it is here to stay. Just as we have all had to learn how to use mobile phones (and SMS), and go online and programme a VCR (OK, OK DVD), changes are coming every minute of every day and they will continue to keep coming. I think this is particularly relevant in the world of business – everything is changing. Our customers, our products, our services, technology etc.

Resistance is futile and embracing is powerful. Good luck. AG

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Make Change A Positive Part of Your Life

You must avoid breaking when things don’t go your way.
You’ll always be secure to the degree that you accept change.
True security comes from being able to bend your insecurities.

Recognize and accept that change will inevitably take place.
You’ll become secure, not by standing still, but by growing,
moving, and staying energized.
Be secure in the knowledge that you can deal with anything
that happens to you.

Have the courage to bet on your ideas.
Take some calculated risks and act on your dreams.
There is no permanent security on this earth, there is only opportunity.

The Daily Guru

The world is primarily constituted on the basis of harmony.
Everything works in cooperation with something else.

Personal relationships are the fertile soil
from which all advancement, all success,
all achievement in real life grows.

Put yourself in another’s place.
Only then will you know why they think and do certain things.
Once you understand how quickly people will grant your requests
when those requests appeal to their self interest,
you can have practically anything you go after.

It’s through cooperation not conflict,
that you’ll achieve your greatest success.

The Daily Guru