Success in business starts with humility

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In my Happiness book I wrote about having the right attitude to happiness, and success. One of the biggest dangers I’ve seen with people and business is how they move forward when they have already experienced success in the past. Not that success itself is the problem, but in some cases it’s the attitude it can bring. Many of those who have succeeded approached their business with a learners mentality. They want to find out everything there is to know about their industry, test out new things and if it works, they feel pretty good about themselves.

However, once some have had a taste of that success, they start to feel “overly optimistic” about their future, they forget what got them there in the first place and feel that they can do nothing wrong. They’ve already succeeded, and think: “I can do it again.”

You’re probably familiar with the statistic that 9 out of every 10 businesses fail in the first 5 years. If you think that your success as a “serial entrepreneur” will be running by itself on auto pilot, think again. Just because you’ve had success in one venture doesn’t mean that it will work again.

However, if your approach to business starts with a little humility for the success you’ve enjoyed in the past, I believe that you can maintain and in fact gain an edge on your competitors. It helps keep you fighting for your business and allows you to stay in the game longer.

Humility is when you tell the truth about yourself.
Humiliation is when someone else does it for you.

So how can you develop this attitude? Here are the 5 critical traits that you need:

1. “Listen to understand, not to respond” – open your ears and close your mouth. If you listen to your customers and prospects, they will tell you what they want and need. By listening to feedback, you can shift and change. What you may have thought to be the correct approach to your business, may have been wrong all along.
2. “Yesterday’s lessons may not be helpful today” – Experience is one of the best forms of capital you bring to a business, however, just because something worked yesterday doesn’t mean it will work today. Ask yourself, “How can I bring it to the next level?”
3. “Take a look at your business with fresh eyes” – continuously review your business, and pretend that you have to sell yourself over again. Dare to ask the tough questions: Are you still relevant? Does your business plan make sense?
4. “Be grateful” – Pretend you’re a customer of your own business, and ask yourself: “would I do business with me?” If you don’t value your customers then forget about them wanting to help you.
5. “Ignore the kudos” – Ever walked into an executive office where the walls were covered with awards, plaques, photos of them with well known people and over the top “look at me and what I’ve done” trinkets? When you walk into an office like that you definitely form an opinion about that person. Personally, I think you’re better off to appreciate the thanks, understand what got you there and move on.

Read more in the second book in the Freedom Project series about “Happiness”. Who do you know that could use a little more happiness in their daily lives? Get them (and yourself) a copy of The Freedom Project Happiness, available now on Amazon.

P.S. Questions, comments, compliments? Join the conversation and text me: 604-210-8668. I’d love to hear from you.

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