3 Things You Are Screwing Up In Your Business And Why No One Is Helping You Fix It

With the extensive amount of business advice (whether free or paid), available business coaches and consultants, articles, webinars, social media posts and so forth it should be downright impossible not to make a single mistake in your business.

It’s rare that the information we get is wrong, so what’s the problem? Why aren’t all businesses über successful?

Here are three things that I see are the most common ways entrepreneurs and business owners screw up:

1. Listening to the wrong people
When we were teenagers, we listened to our mates for advice on dating, without ever really thinking about their real-life credentials. Were they married? No. Were they dating lots of hot guys/gals? No. For some reason it was always the single friends that gave out the most dating advice (undersigned included!).

And we do the same in business!

You listen to your best friend who so wants to keep you safe and protected from rejection: “Oh, but honey I think you need to tone it down a bit, people might get scared of you.” Imagine if Steve Job’s best buddie had said that to him… and he actually listened? Would people be sleeping outside Apple Stores waiting for the new iPad?

You listen to your dad who just wants you to think realistically: “Sweetheart, I just don’t think that will work”… followed by a pat on the head. Imagine if Richard Branson’s dad had said that to him… and he listened? Would Virgin Airlines even be in existence?

And we listen because we love them, and because we think they too are awesome people.

The only problem: they haven’t done what you are trying to do!

The same reason why you didn’t get your dream-guy/girl in high-school is the same reason as to why your business may not be at the level where you want it to be. You are listening to the wrong people.

2. Not listening at all
Also known as LaLa-Land! We’ve read The Secret and truly believe that all we gotta do is think positive thoughts and our guides and angels will take care of the rest.

We believe there is no need to seek expert advice because our intuition is enough to go by. I call this voice the inner brat! The childish part of us that see God or Spirit as a parent who swoops in and saves us whenever we need it.

I once had a prospective client on the phone who was adamant that her guides were telling her to focus on writing her book so she could eventually become well-known and get a long waiting list of clients AFTER the book was written rather than gaining experience working with clients.

She refused to listen to me when I told her that what she was about to do is the no. 1 biggest mistake most authors make (believing that a book will save them) and that she had to think of additional client attraction strategies too. Her angels had spoken.

3. Over-listening
Then there are those of us who listen to every single piece of advice out there and believe that implementing that little thing will save our business. This leaves us in overwhelm and gets us a good case of Bright-Shiny-Object-Syndrome.

We are so focused on the bells and whistles (your website, Facebook presence, tweeting on Twitter, pinning on Pinterest, guest blogging, smart gadgets for your videos, you name it) that we forget to take a look at whether the foundation of our business is really solid and sustainable.