How to be a confident, all-in business owner

Be honest.

How many times have you been faced with a new opportunity and told yourself “I’ll just try it.”

You’ll just tentatively stick your toe in. You won’t invest much time or effort. And you sure as #$&% won’t spend any money on it. This is just to see if it’s going to work.

Spoiler alert: It won’t.

Not if you approach it that way.

To succeed, you must fully commit. 

It is scary to go all-in. But that’s what it takes to succeed in anything.

I see this all the time in my work. It tends to show up whenever a business owner is faced with a decision or opportunity that is outside their comfort zone.

A typical example is when an opportunity to launch a new product or enter a new market comes along. On the one hand, you’re excited by the possibilities. On the other, you’re anxious. This is something new for you, after all.

As soon as that anxiety kicks in (even if it isn’t strong enough to notice it, your subconscious is a quivering mass of jell-o), your amygdala jumps into action to protect you.

You hear faint whispers coming from someplace deep in your head. “This will never work! Don’t do it!”

Other parts of your brain pick up on those messages and strike a compromise with your conscious mind.

“I’ll mitigate my risk.” you say. What you actually mean is you won’t commit. You’ll make a half effort so it’s easy for you to walk away if success isn’t immediate and effortless.

How do you know when you’re doing that?

You catch yourself saying and thinking things like…

• I know I should do “x”, but this tiny fraction of “x” is good enough for a test.
• Let’s not tell too many current customers about the new widget. That will make it easier to drop it in case it doesn’t catch on.
• I’ll work on the pitch, but they probably aren’t going to hire me.

Does this sound like you?

Most of us have a hard time going “all in” on our goals. We want to chase our dreams, but we fear if we go too far, we won’t be able to find our way back.  

The false comfort of one-foot-in and one-foot-out.

We think by holding back that we’re being sensible. That by holding on firmly to where we are and not stretching too far, we won’t lose our balance. We’ll be safe.

You tell yourself that if you don’t take the shot, you won’t miss.

Well, you won’t score, either.

That’s the false comfort of one-foot-in. You think you’re protecting yourself. What you’re really doing is holding yourself back.

Don’t put yourself in commitment purgatory.

If you run your business like that one time you tried to pick up playing guitar, it won’t work. You can’t dabble.

If you are serious about making your business (or anything else, really) work, you need to stop, plant your feet, raise your arms, and loudly declare “I’m doing this!”

And you need to mean it.

But how?

Burn your boats.

In the pursuit of a great treasure, Cortez and his men sailed to Veracruz, Mexico. When they arrived, his men were fearful of the Aztecs, having heard stories of earlier expeditions being massacred.

So, Cortez ordered his men to burn their boats.

He told them if they were to return home they had only one option. They would need to conquer the people, retrieve the treasure, and use their boats to get back.

Win or die.

You will be way more motivated to do what needs to be done if it’s your only option. So burn the boats in your life: your day job, those “safe” sales goals you’ve had for years, or the way you’ve always done it.

Whatever it is, get rid of it.

We are all capable of far more than we believe.

When things get tough and we’re still far from the goal, it is easy to believe we failed.

It is easy to feel that we’ve got nothing left to give.

But think of the Navy Seal 40% rule.

It says that once you hit your breaking point, the point where you think you have nothing left to give, you’ve only given 40%. Which means when you’re thinking you can’t do anything more, you’ve got a whole 60% of fight left in you!

You have the potential for great success, you just have to fully dedicate yourself to getting it.

What are you all-in on? Declare it to the world in the comments below.

And if you are ready to commit fully to your business, we are here for you. Schedule a breakthrough session and see just how far you can go.

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