5 Beliefs That Keep You From Your Success

Today’s post is again very straightforward. DO NOT under any circumstances follow or believe any of these ideas unless you want to fail in your business. 

These are a collection of beliefs that have been notoriously known to keep you from your business success. If you find yourself believing ANY of these quickly find the nearest bullshit exorcist to cleanse your SEO or soul. 

1. Profit is a not a metric of a business’s success

I actually read that bullshit from someone who also believes that marketing and sales are low-ranking endeavors for business owners to focus on. Are you fucking kidding me?

Profit is the only metric of success when it comes to business.

If you’re not making money - you’re not in business. Period. 

Just don’t be a fool and tell yourself “money doesn’t matter” or that “you’re in it JUST to help”. Of course, you’re in it to help. But you’re asking that the compensation for your help be in the form of money.

Business is all about having a solution someone needs and who is willing to pay for it. 

The cure:

• Know the distinction between hobby and business income. Hobby = fun income + no strings attached. Business = income to keep the lights on + build a life.
• Make the decision on which one you are in. This will save you a lot of MONEY in the long run. If you’re a hobbyist then investing $2,000 - $5,000 in masterminds is probably not the wisest decision. Especially, if you realize *gasp* you have to do work or market yourself. If you do decide you’re running a business and not a non-profit, then make sure you do use your profit margin as a metric of your success.

Pro Tip: Wanna start making decisions like a boss? Start with this one: set up your accounting software TODAY. Start tracking what you’re spending on your business so you can determine if it returns on investment (ROI) is worth its cost.

2. I’ll launch when I’m ready

We tinker, perfect, procrastinate and forget. Stop it. Just launch your creation already. You’re never going to be ready. Ever. Just expect that you will have to make corrections and adjustments as you go along. Besides, you’ll never really know if something works unless you put it out there.

The cure:

• Pick a date. No not that kind. Pick a date on the calendar to launch your new service or product.
• Tell everyone who’s opinion of you matters to you of said date.
• Work as much as you can to get thing ready by date.
• Cross your fingers, cup your balls, and go publish that puppy.

Pro Tip: Pssst...while you are waiting for responses or purchases you can still make adjustments on the backend.

3. I don’t need anybody to help me - I can do it ALL BY MYSELF

Nothing will help you fail faster or bigger than believing you are the mighty Atlas whose strong shoulders can carry the whole wide web. Listen, I’ve seen the backends of many, many businesses.

There comes a point where you must outsource operations or tasks so you can focus on the things that will bring you more exposure or more money. I get it. It’s hard to let go of the reigns and trust someone. But in order to grow or 10x the shit out of your business, you have to.

The cure:

• Start small. Have someone organize your client Dropbox folder. Or maybe make your PDFs editable. Or maybe make some social media graphics for you. Just begin letting go of tiny tasks that eat up your time. 
• Start with something you hate. Delegate a task that makes you want to punch a baby dolphin in the face. For me, it’s Mailchimp. I hate dealing with Mailchimp. Did you know that this idiot waited a YEAR to link up her snazzy email opt-in because she literally had a meltdown just looking at Mailchimp’s UI? It wasn’t until my business manager came on board and just clicked three times and BOOM. Done. Don’t be like me. Hire/Delegate/Outsource the tasks you hate.
• Start big. Need your website copy to be written? Or how about cleaning up your website code? Quit stalling. Just hire an expert and have them do it. It will be taken off your plate and you’ll feel better about it.

Pro Tip: Make a list of the nagging tasks or projects you HAVE to do. Cross off the ones that you like to do or are easy to do quickly. Then start looking for people to handle the ones remaining.

4. Not putting out your awesome graphic, service, product or brand because you're afraid someone will steal or copy it

Newsflash! You can’t control anyone, anymore, then you can control the weather (unless you’re Storm from X-Men). You can’t hide or dam up your brilliance just because you think you’re preventing the theft of something that you haven’t even put out yet. Reread that sentence again and see if it sounds silly to you. Because it is.

Yes, you will run the risk of some jackass stealing, copying, or ripping off your shit. But the alternative is creative death. Don’t be a martyr to cause that isn’t even a cause. It’s the price of admission.

The cure:

• Put legal protections in place to safeguard your shit. You can use Copysentry, DMCA.com, a lawyer and a voodoo curse vow as deterrents.
• Make a plan. Outline steps that you will take if it does happen. You don’t have to post it on your site. Just have a document somewhere that will CLEARLY tell you what to do next in your pissed off angry state.
• Read this article. Ooooh, Homey don’t play that! See how the glorious Erika Napoletano handled this shit. Keep it as a resource and reference guide. 

Pro Tip: If you do find out someone close to you ripped you off, be an adult and contact them. Try to resolve it. If it doesn’t work out, ban them from your universe. No point in keeping folks around you who don’t trust and don’t like anymore.

5. Equating your self-worth with your work

Oh, I saved the best for last. This idiotic notion is one that myself and countless others have held on too dearly. Using this idea as a pricing strategy or business philosophy is a guaranteed way to keep you broke, depressed, and angry.

Your self-worth as a human being is in no way tied to a dollar sign.

Your work (or how much you charge for it) is a direct reflection of how much YOU value your work.

Think your steaming pile of poo is worth millions? Great. Whether someone else finds it to be of the same value is another story. Their story. Nowhere does it state that if you’re happy and they know it - they will clap their hands AND buy.

The cure:

• Realize that your emotional/mental state of how you view yourself is your business. No one else's.
• If you’re lacking pricing confidence, price to break even and be able to buy yourself at least two tacos. A girl’s gotta eat.
• Stop taking the ACTUAL business transaction personally. Remember, at its bare bones, business is about providing a solution to someone’s problem in exchange for money. That’s it. They are buying your ideas, your answers, your insight, or your connections. They are not buying you.

Pro tip: Figure out how much it costs you to create or offer your thing. Take into account training, subscriptions, manpower, memberships, and Paypal fees. Once you know that number, make the decision that you will NEVER price below that figure.

So, in closing, I hope you benefit from these beliefs by never, ever believing in them. It’s sad to see people give up on their business dreams because they believe these ideas to be self-evident truths. Don’t be one of those people, okay?

Where there any other idiotic beliefs I left out? Tell me about them in the comments.