3 Problems Preventing Your Success

There are three key problems that every entrepreneur faces when it comes to building a successful business. They may not be your usual suspects, but, guaranteed, you’ll be able to relate to at least one of these problems– if not all three.

It doesn’t matter if you’re in start-up mode, out of the gate trying to make your first sale, or if you’re a pro who has crossed over the 7-figure mark. These problems will continue to haunt you in your business and should be considered regularly.

The Three Biggest Problems

These three problems are the root of all other problems. It doesn’t matter what your problem is, you can trace its roots back to one of these three bad boys:

1. People
2. Pricing
3. Priorities

Let’s dive in.

1. People

In the first chapter of my book, Pilot To Profit, you may have read this bold statement: the first sale you’ll ever make is always to yourself. 

The first sale is not about other people’s belief in you, what they think or if they want to buy your product or service. Take the focus off of them, because it’s not about them. It’s all about you and your beliefs.

When you convince yourself first that the vision you have for your business has legs, you need to continue to sell yourself on your own business ideas if you are ever going to be successful selling those ideas to others. Selling is really your ability to transfer belief…

And the first person you need to get on board with believing is you.

Selling is really your ability to transfer belief, and the first person you need to convince is you. Otherwise, you won’t be successful selling to others. #LimitingBelief #MoneyMindset (Click to tweet!)

There are two other elements related to people that you want to pay attention to as well.

Who are the people you spend time with?

Who you spend your time with matters a great deal to your perspective and overall state of mind. When you surround yourself with people who are supportive and like-minded, you tend to grow and think like them. The transition in finding people who think like you as an entrepreneur can be challenging, as can working from home alone.

Seek out events and communities of people who are smart, innovative and creative like you. Hang out with the dreamers, and avoid the fun-wreckers at all costs.

Who are the people you want to do business with? 

When you have a clear sense of who you want to do business with, everything becomes so much easier in your business. This typically means you have more fun because you like the people you work with. It also means it is easier to say no to those who are not the right people.

Be careful not to fall into the trap of selling for feedback. Feedback doesn’t pay the bills. The true person you want to do business with is the one who is willing and able to pay for your product or service. Not the one who thinks it is a great idea.

Crystalize your vision.

2. Pricing

Pricing is everything in business. Your price determines who your buyer will be, whether you’re in a relational or transactional business, and how much profit you can generate.

Pricing is everything in business. Your price determines who your buyer will be, whether you’re in a relational or transactional business, and how much profit you can generate. (Click to tweet!)

If you’ve ever run into money problems in your business, it likely had to do with pricing. There are four key areas you need to take into consideration when pricing:

1. Projections
2. Pricing
3. Paying Yourself
4. Profit

Before you do any type of pricing, you first need to do some projections around what the actual cost of what you’re offering is to the business. The cost to the business will vary based on whether or not you have overhead; whether or not you have employees; and whether you are selling a product or a service.

Often, entrepreneurs set prices based on what they would be willing to pay for a product or service. This is wrong. Why? Because it is based on feeling and not on fact.

When you price anything, you need to understand the cost of doing business and ensure that you are factoring in how much revenue you need to generate weekly to operate. Plus, think about the cost of whatever you’re selling and the cost of what you pay yourself.

Paying yourself is part of running a business, and is not profit itself.

Profit is what is left over after you pay all the costs of running the business – plus your payroll. Spend time getting to know your numbers so you can price for peak profit in your business.

Do the math and price accordingly.

3. Priorities

The last problem many business owners have is their inability to prioritize and focus on the work that needs to be done. Sometimes, this is because they have fallen into the trap of being the only one who can do the work. And thus, they feel overwhelmed, starved for time and want to cross something off their to-do list so they feel like they are progressing.

This is not effective prioritization.

Effective prioritization means you know what the most important activities are in your business, and you prioritize your schedule to tackle those things first every day.

Effective prioritization means you know what the most important activities are in your business, and you prioritize your schedule to tackle those things first every day. (Click to tweet!)

If you’re letting your smartphone rule your life, you’re not prioritizing. If you’re spending hours a day scrolling Facebook and setting up email folders, you’re not prioritizing.

It’s easy to avoid doing the most important work because you’ve focused on busy, mindless work. This is a success-trap and it will diminish your ability to grow and be successful.

You must determine the most important priorities in your business and focus on making them non-negotiable. Learn to say no to the things that do not align with your greatest priorities in order to protect your most important work.

You also need to learn how to delegate, trust and let go if you plan on scaling because, my dear entrepreneurial friend, you cannot do it all yourself.

Do You Recognize Your Problem?

Maybe you have one of these problems, maybe you have all three. As you start to prepare for the upcoming season, spend some time thinking about which of these problems you need to solve in order to make the biggest impact on the growth of your business.

Drop me a comment and let me know which of these problems you resonate with the most.