Running a home service business is like running a race on a course filled with obstacles that you can’t always see until they’re right in front of you. The business owner who can overcome each obstacle and move forward is the one who will grow his business.
But every day you face something new. These problems are usually framed in a sentence like this, “My business would grow if only THIS wasn’t a problem.” Or, “I’d be able to run my business better if only THIS didn’t hold me back.”
Perhaps it’s a lack of resources to do the type of marketing you really want to do. Or perhaps it’s a missing team member or a team that isn’t quite operating at the level you need. Or perhaps it’s a lack of time you have available to complete the work you need to do. From income to profit, from taxes to equipment, from people to your marketplace – the challenges seem to appear regularly and hold you back.
Now here’s the shocking truth about those roadblocks – it’s a truth few people realize (but realizing it and doing something about it WILL change your business instantly for the better).
The shocking truth is: These roadblocks aren’t the problem. The real problem is your beliefs about them. They’re only roadblocks because you allow them to be.
It’s called “limiting belief”. You feel that something is a roadblock and that’s what it becomes. It’s your brain’s primal defense mechanism.
Back in ancient times, we had to be cautious so we wouldn’t be eaten by saber-toothed tigers. Anything outside of a very predictable pattern would be considered by our brains to be scary and therefore something to be avoided.
That thinking may have kept us alive then but it’s different now: our brains don’t know the difference between the ancient danger or a modern challenge that seems to prevent business growth. When we encounter something that seems to impede our progress, we say, “I can’t grow my business because of this saber-tooth-sized problem I’m facing.”
What our brains think become our reality. A circumstance viewed as a problem becomes a problem! That marketing issue becomes THE problem holding you back. That employee issue becomes THE problem holding you back.
And here’s an even uglier truth: Our brains desperately want us to return to our safe cave, away from the unknown. So those circumstances that we now call problems become excuses for us to play it safe, to play at a lower level, and to not try as hard as we can or should.
But here’s the great news: The reverse is true as well: While a circumstance viewed as a problem becomes a problem, a circumstance viewed as an opportunity becomes an opportunity.
Yes, those seemingly insurmountable problems could actually be opportunities to push yourself, to raise the bar on your business, and to get creative to find a different way. The difference is how you view them.
How different would that make your day?
Instead of allowing your limiting beliefs to be defeated by the roadblocks that came up, what if you saw each problem as something exciting that gave you the opportunity to grow?
Here’s a simple exercise to do right now:
- Identify the top problems or roadblocks that you feel are holding you back from growth.
- Identify your belief about the problem by asking, “How do I think this problem is holding me back from growth?”
- Look at each belief and identify how you might be wrong. Ask yourself, “What if this problem was actually an opportunity for growth?”
- Create a simple step-by-step plan to attack the problem and move forward.
Changing your limiting beliefs isn’t easy and may not happen instantly. But with practice, you’ll become adept at realizing it’s your limiting belief and not the circumstance itself that is holding you back and you’ll destroy your belief before it becomes the real problem.
