Are You Using Perfectionism As A Means Of Procrastination ?

Embrace The Things Most People Fear ...

Taken from 'Start Up!' by Liz Jackson MBE 

Many things stop people from starting their own business.  To succeed, you have to embrace the things that most people fear !  

Here's just a few ... 

CHANGE - human beings seem to be genetically engineered to resist change.  A business leader must be open to change and to new ideas.  They must then be a driver of change both in their business and in their workforce.  Learn to embrace change: regularly get out of your comfort zone and do things that scare you.

ACCOUNTABILITY - in most jobs, in most companies, you don't go broke if you fail miserably.  You have a lot of protection and not many people are really accountable for their actions.  In business, you really are accountable for your actions and for the actions of everyone associated with your business.  Embrace this and learn to love it.  The successes are all yours too!

BEING FRIGHTENED - most people don't like being frightened - unless it's at Alton Towers. I've often been frightened in business but I've learned to find it exhilarating, stimulating and a useful learning time.  Learn to treat it this way. 

BEING OUT OF YOUR DEPTH - I get out of my depth many times.  Again, it's when you really stretch your sills and capability and where you grow the most.  Seek out these opportunities; their rewards are usually excellent.  Learn to take calculated risks. 

Remember that "worrying" does absolutely nothing positive.  If makes you feel bad, it saps your strength and it fills your head with negativity that drives through to your behaviour and prevents you from achieving the things you want and need to achieve.  This only serves to give you more to worry about !

Dragons' Den : Evan Davies Golden Rules For Business Success

How Jessica Alba Proved Her Doubters Wrong ...

Even movie stars have to stare down skeptics when they're launching a company and seeking funding. Here's how Jessica Alba persevered--and wound up with a company valued at nearly $1 billion.

When actress Jessica Alba first conceived her idea to launch a line of nontoxic household and baby products in 2008, skeptics tried to push her toward the same tried and true starlet formula: "Why not just be the face of a new perfume?" A few years later, she has a pretty good answer. The Honest Company is expected to pull in more than $150 million in revenue in 2014, has a reported $1 billion valuation, and is poised to go public. Take that, Hollywood.

Jessica says ... I founded The Honest Company on this idea: Everything that touches you and your family--everything in your home--needs to be nontoxic, needs to be effective and beautiful to look at, and needs to be affordable. I really wanted it to have an e-commerce model. What are the things that all parents need? Diapers and wipes, for sure. And then a mix of cleaning and personal care products. Wouldn't it be great if you could pick five things and get them delivered through a monthly subscription?

Everyone I approached was skeptical. There wasn't one person who said, "Yeah, that can happen." I heard "Just do one thing really well and then you can expand" a lot. But I wanted this to be a whole lifestyle brand. Everyone I talked with in Hollywood could not wrap their heads around the idea. Whenever I tried to sit down with them about it, they would just get this glazed look on their faces. Entertainment is a totally different business. It's like, how do you squeeze the most out of a person for five seconds, and then you move on to the next one. It's hard for people to take anyone seriously who's never done this before. They see you only as something else. But all that just gave me fire to move forward.

I approached this guy who built the top-selling accessories brand at Macy's. We're friends, and he was trying to help me figure out how to execute on this idea. But he built his brand off of one item and then expanded. He found traditional retail partners and then opened his own stores. He didn't understand how to build this thing from scratch. Friends want to help you, but they're also going to be the most critical. We launched with 17 products. Even my husband, Cash, thought the idea was too big.

It took me three years to find my business partners. You have to be brutally honest with yourself and understand your strengths and weaknesses. I'm not a business person--I'm a mom. I wasn't going to be coding. I wasn't going to be in the lab mixing potions. (Though I do test all the products on my kids!) I wasn't going to be the one doing the business model and running the operation. If I went in there and said, "Hey, I'm going to put together this business from scratch all by myself," I'm sure it would have been a lot more difficult to get VCs to take me seriously, but once you have the right partners, it isn't. Having the right partners also means having people you like. They're all people I wouldn't mind getting stuck with at an airport for five hours. We can hang and have a beer and chat it up, or stay silent together and be totally cool with that. That's really important.

Then the team sat down with a lot of people who weren't going to invest--friends like Tory Burch and Narciso Rodriguez, both of whom built successful businesses, and people from big tech companies and public companies--to test our pitch. They asked us great questions: What are you going to do when you run out of product? What if it's not delivered on time? How are you going to get people to your website? 

With them, it didn't matter that we weren't perfect in the way we pitched Honest. It was kind of like how comedians go out and do stand up in small clubs in different cities to test their material before they do their HBO special: All of that back-and-forth helped us refine our pitch. And it got a lot shorter--we got it down to a 10-minute pitch deck and a 15-minute question-and-answer session. So then we knew we could do it in a 30-minute meeting.

Almost every VC we talked to was on their first or second child and told me their wives were doing the same research that I was, trying to find a brand they could trust. We didn't try to find investors with young families. It just happened. But in retrospect, that would have been a good tactic!

By the time we got into the room with VCs, it wasn't that hard of a sell. We went in with a real plan of attack, a strong process, and smart people. By that point we had talked to so many people, having them try to poke holes in the idea. Because that is exactly what the VCs are going to do. Inevitably, they're going to ask questions you can't answer. If you're writing down the 20th question to which you don't have an answer, that's a problem. You can say "I'll get back to you," but not more than five times.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/201411/lindsay-blakely/how-jessica-alba-proved-her-doubters-were-wrong.html

The Uncomfortable Truth Of What Is Keeping You From Success

Do you really want to know what is keeping your from success?

Really, really?

Because it’s not a lack of productivity apps or time management skills …

It’s not even those customers that aren’t calling you back, those friends who are not supportive or those colleagues that never seem to listen to you…

I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry.

But it’s you !

Here’s why:

1. You’re Not Clear On What Success Really Is

I’ve been interviewed for a popular magazine in the Netherlands when I was a student and it was all about what we wanted out of life after our studies. I’m caught on print that all I wanted was to have an amazing, well-paid job, a big house and a car to go with it. 6 years later I find myself in a big fancy office, filled with high-achieving consultants, which I drive to in my big fancy car from my big fancy house being incredibly jealous of the guy who waters the plants, because he’s obviously a lot more HAPPY with his life and work than I am.

Having a clear vision on what success is to you is a basic necessity; how else are you going to know that you’re heading in the right direction and if you indeed ARE successful?

But make sure your vision grows and evolves along with you in life.

2. You’re Not Listening To Your Gut

Us human beings are a fascinating bunch; instinctively we almost always know what’s right or wrong for us but we hardly ever listen to those instincts and we do the wrong things anyway. The reasons for this could fill an entire library but the effect of it is that we waste our time and energy on things that are not in line with our core vision and are therefore keeping us from success.

Listening to your gut and acting on it demands you to be very brave. It means that you’ll have to say no to opportunities and people even when that puts you at risk of being unpopular or not profitable in the short-term. But it’s authentic, and in the end, that’s the only way to success.

And not listening … that will keep you nice and safe in your comfort zone. You know, the place where you’ll very likely NOT to achieve the things you want to.

3. Your Ambition Is In The Way

Who is your big hero, entrepreneurial or otherwise? Do you just look up to them and learn from them or do you want to be exactly like them?

There’s a big difference ! It’s great to have people to look up to and learn from, especially in this day and age where so many inspirational stories are shared. We learn that we’re not alone in our struggles on the path to success and we learn how to recognize and not fall in to the pitfalls these people have.

But what if you want to be exactly like them ? What if you’re not happy until you’ve achieved the same as they have ?

Personally, I can’t seem to shake the ambition of being a combination of Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and Angelina Jolie and am not happy until I get the same recognition they get …

Yeah, that’s never gonna happen !

Not because I don’t deserve that recognition or am anything less than they are, but simply because I’M NOT THEM.

But it does limit my behavior and level of courage at times …

We all have our own lives, paths and characters and can be extremely successful in our own rights, but we’re keeping ourselves small if we keep comparing ourselves to others.

4. You Can’t See What You’ve Already Achieved

At what point will you be able to look at yourself and your business and be happy with what you’ve achieved?

Most of us can’t. Most of us have this continuously lingering thought in the back of our heads that tells us that it (and we) are still ‘not good enough’ …

It’s both the comparison of ourselves to others and an ancient imprint in our brain that compels us to always be something bigger and better than we are. It’s evolution and simply in our DNA.

But it’s not really useful is it ? What’s the point of working this hard and actually achieving all this success but not enjoying it for what it is ?

Sometimes…there’s nothing keeping us from success. Sometimes, we’re already there but just not able to see it.

Not sure if you’re holding yourself back in any way ? Answer these questions:

-       Do you really know what success looks like for YOU ?
-       Do you always listen to – and act on – your instincts ?
-       Does the awesomeness of [insert name] keep you from even trying?
-       Could it be that you’re already there ? Hint: listen to the people close to you !

Dreaming big, having huge ambitions and always aiming for growth and improvement are all essential for success and are great characteristics for anyone that thinks of themselves as a personal leader.

But don’t let them become their own pitfalls.

http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/the-uncomfortable-truth-of-what-is-keeping-you-from-success/

Kelly Hoppen's Six Steps To Starting Your Own Business ...

Kelly Hoppen MBE, entrepreneur and Prince's Trust Ambassador, shares her top tips for starting a business ...