Self development and getting rid of useless habits to achieve phenomenal results
I work with a lot of people from different cultures.
My experience has shown me that people approach problem solving differently depending on their background, experience and personality. Certain cultures have trends of avoiding problems whilst others attack many problems head-on. Some even spend their time trying to find a scapegoat that the problem can be blamed on.
Whatever the approach, problems always remain until someone solves them. Although this statement is quite obvious, if all of us understood it there would not be so many approaches to âavoidâ solving problems. The reason why we avoid solving problems is because we donât want to take responsibility. We can only solve it if we take full responsibility for it and identify the problems to be âyour problemsâ. Instead, most of the time I hear people explain to me why certain things did not happen, how the problem occurred and who caused it. Most of these descriptions are then concluded by an explanation (usually very subtle) as to why itâs not a persons problem. The extent of avoiding responsibility is unlimited, however, the problems remain until they are solved.
The second problem that usually occurs when trying to solve a problem is to find the time to do it. I often hear that people just donât have the time to solve a certain problem as they are too busy at work, want to spend more time with their family or have other things to do. In most cases, I can honestly say that if you collate all of the time that a person spends explaining the issue and how they donât have the time to solve it and then use that time to complete the problem, they would have already done it.
In order to solve a problem, there are a few ingredients that will you need to have:
1.Accept the responsibility for it
2.Analyse the issues
3.Take action to solve it.
I coach people on how to get to the stage of accepting a problem and solving it. The reason why so many clients see results quickly is because I shatter their hope that the problem will just go away and solve itself. I put my clients in the right mindset, which allows them to solve problems quickly and efficiently not only at work but also in their social and private life.
Stay honest about the reason why problems are not solved!
Good luck
Rachel Grant
Persistence, hard work and being excellent at what you do are all key attributes that allow my clients to climb higher up their career ladders. However, it often comes as a surprise to them when they find out that those attributes are not what turns their new business venture into a success.
Most of the people I see open their own business primarily because they are good at what they do, have built a good network over the years and have a consistent high record of achievement within their career. It is then a huge surprise to them when they find themselves headed towards being one of the 20,000 business that fail each year (and thatâs just in the UK). Why did all of their hard work, contacts and business savvy fail them?
The reason why career successful business people fail at running their own business is because the mindset required is very different. The fact that you have progressed well in your career indicates that you have all the right natural tools to run your own business. However, in order to avoid failure, you need to breed the right setting to use all of these tools once you have set up your business.
Here is a list of things that you would be doing differently, if you move from working for someone to working for yourself:
1. You have no one to ask for guidance. This lack of support throws a lot of people off when they start their own business. Although there is a lot of support out there to help you through different issues, you are the ultimate decision-maker which means you are the only one who guides the business.
2. You can no longer specialise, which often comes as a shock. It does not matter what you were good at in your previous job as now you need to be good at everything. Everyone will look up to you for guidance: accountants, project managers, cleaners, data entry, designers, PR representatives etc. It is vital that you know every part of their job in order to lead them.
3. Keeping up with the details. You will be the only one who will know all of the details of every part of your business. It doesnât matter if it is someone elseâs job, if there is a mistake and you miss it â it will be your responsibility.
4. Commission only work. Having your own business is going back right to the bottom of your career, e.g. when you had a commission only job and you only got paid for results. Furthermore, if you make a mistake, you get to pay for it out of your own pocket.
5. You will work all of the time. Paid holidays, time off with the family and sick days all become a thing of the past. Running your own business is a 24/7 job. You are the only one responsible and therefore, even when you are taking time off â you are working.
The pressure from the above points can be huge and should not be underestimated. Going into your own business with the wrong mindset usually leads to business owners avoiding some of the responsibilities of running their own business. They then start to rely on other people to get work done, without checking and questioning progress. In turn, this often leaves part of the business not functioning properly, which eventually leads to failure.
My job is to get business people into the right mindset before they start their own business. Of course, I have a lot of clients who approach me when they are already running a business and they realise that the wrong mindset is not allowing progression. In both instances I have a wealth of experience to enable you to turn your business around.
Good luck
Rachel Grant