3 Baby Steps To Business Success
There are 3 baby steps to business success:
- moving from 'I can't' to... 'maybe I can'
- moving from 'maybe I can' to...'I think I can'
- moving from 'I think I can' to... 'I can'
And once this 'I can't' becomes an 'I can'...yet another 'I can't' appears...'but I can't run'.
And so it goes...from an 'I can't' to an 'I can'...and then to another more sophisticated 'I can't'.
From a business perspective, with time and effort 'I can't run a business' becomes a can-do, peparing the way for 'but I can't market.'
This in turn becomes another can-do, which gives way to 'but I can't do Internet marketing.' (For the record, yes you really can do Internet Marketing...but that's another story.)
In life and in business, ongoing success involves a continuous series of 'baby steps'.
Each step of 'I can't' leads to the step of I can, which in turn leads to a new step of I can't. And so on...and so on....and so on.
It's the reality of ongoing growth.
If you are still at the first step of I can't run a business, scroll down to Baby Steps To Walking. This will help you undersand the how babies learning to walk also applies to succeeding in business.
if however, you have passed your first 'I can' in business, read on...at least for the next 5 lines.
Take a minute and think back to your journey or journeys from 'I can't to I can'. What have you learned along thhe way?
Do you have any tips to share that would make the process easier...better...or both?
You can share your tip now, or you can share it after the baby steps analogy.
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Baby Steps to Walking
If you have ever watched a baby taking its first tentative steps toward walking, you are very familiar with the visual image of baby steps.Learning to walk is more of an inborn automatic development process than a conscious decision-making process on the part of babies.
Sooner or later, most healthy babies learn to walk...and then run...and then use a variety of mechanical devices to help them move around.
At some point, the automatic development process is replaced by some kind of a conscious decision-making process.
When this happens, external factors start to play a bigger role in babies' development.
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Instead of simply doing things that are part of a normal development process, babies...and children...start to hear words like 'no' and 'can't'.
Sooner or later, many babies, children...and even adults are more ruled by 'I can't' than by 'I can'.
Unfortunately, a similar process happens to many people as they move through life.
Reinforced by repeatedly hearing 'no' and its equally evil twin 'I can't', too many people start to believe that they can't do things that they probably really could do.
This is equally true in terms of business success.
When thinking of running a business, too many people believe they can't even start a business, let alone succeed at running one.
If that's what they think...they are probably right.
However, it may be that they are wrong to have those thoughts in the first place.
Just as in learning to walk, a small child takes baby steps in learning to walk, there are baby steps to business success.
In fact, there are 3 baby steps to business success.
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Step 1: Shifting From 'I Can't'...to 'Maybe I Can'
In babies, the desire to walk has been wired in. We have all been pre-programmed to walk.When the physical and mental conditions are right in healthy babies, they automatically take the step from 'I can't' to 'maybe I can'.
At that stage, no one is saying, 'no, you can't walk'.
In fact, the reverse is usually true...most babies enjoy the unanimous chorus of' 'yes, you can...you can do it.'
Unfortunately for adults thinking of starting a business, the operative philosophy seems to be 'I can't'
Thus the first of the 3 baby steps to business success is moving from 'I can't' to 'maybe I can'.
This is where such mental factors as a positive attitude and desire come into play.
TopIt's also where the preliminary planning elements such as identifying your values, (See Exercise 1, of the ebook How to Achieve Better marketing Results...Sooner) setting goals and niche market research come into play.
At this point, think of your planning process as a feasibility study of the first of your baby steps to business success.
It is not, and should not, be considered a commitment to run your business.
The purpose is simply to help you gather enough information to to think...'hmmm, maybe I can run my own business'.
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Step 2: Shifting From 'Maybe I Can'... to 'I Think I Can'
When most babies courageously take their first steps, they fall almost instantly.Some keep trying, picking themselves up after each fall and starting over again.
In effect, these children have moved almost instantly from 'I can't'...to 'Maybe I can'. and then to 'I think I can'.
Others however are more hesitant and don't try to repeat the process until they are more confident they will succeed...or at least not fall as often.
Although some may stay at the 'Maybe I can' stage a little longer than others, all healthy babies will eventually reach the 'I think I can' stage--like the little engine that could.
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This same factor is not true of adults thinking of running a business.
For a variety of reasons, many people do not move beyond the first of their baby steps to business success.
Their feasibility studies confirm that they probably can't run a business.
If that is the case...it's a good outcome...not every one can or should run a business.
Others however, might be so comfortable with the idea of running their own business that they can easily take the next of their baby steps to business success shifting to 'I think I can run my own business'.
Shifting to the next step involves gathering whatever information is necessary to satisfy themselves that they really can run a business.
In addition to undertaking some market segment research this process will include developing a business plan for success.
Then it's on to the third and last of the baby steps to business success: moving from 'I think I can'... to 'I can'.
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Step 3: Shifting From 'I Think I Can'...to 'I Can'
In most cases, babies move quickly and easily from 'I think I can walk' to 'Look at me...I'm walking'.Similarly, people who have moved easily through the first two baby steps to business success will easily move on to the third: believing they can run a successful business...and just doing it.
In practice, once you have completed the 3 baby steps to business success, you are well on your way to success in business.
Remember however, that just as babies do not instantly walk successfully, few business are instant successes.
Babies successfully learn to walk by continuing to take small steps, each one more challenging than the one before it.
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Your Journey to 'I Can'
If you have been in business for two years or more, you have already completed several sets of baby steps to business success.What have you learned from successfullly completing these baby steps?
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