Who Do You Listen To In Your Business?

I’ve never met a satisfied and successful business owner without a successful leader or mentor. I spoke with a colleague about this yesterday, and we were both trying to identify a single colleague who had become successful without a leader who was also successful. We are social creatures, and the input of those around us defines what we see as possible for ourselves. When you’re surrounded by people who are struggling, you can’t see another path.

This is the biggest reason I’m never without a coach. We each have self-limiting beliefs, and sometimes we don’t even see them. My coach helps me distinguish between valid concerns we should pay attention to and self-limiting beliefs that are really useless. She’s made her own dreams come true and she’s been successful in her businesses for longer than I have, so she can easily see my self-limiting beliefs and bat them away. My coach is also never without a coach. My coach has her own self-limiting beliefs, and she knows she’s got to be led in order to keep growing.

Any time you are going to do something new with your business, something that will bring you closer to being your full and bold self, expect some backlash. This backlash may be criticism from your peers who have not felt entitled to make their own bold moves, or it may come from inside. The bigger the move, the louder your inner saboteurs will become. These inner voices will shout out with fears and anxiety, reasons you can’t do it, and reasons you really shouldn’t try. At this time you need a leader. You’ve got to have someone ahead of you who can help you quiet those voices, someone who doesn’t take them seriously. You can do it, but no one can do it alone.