The psychology of success...

by Robert Imbriale, Business Coach

There's more to being a business success than meets the eye. Take for example a client of mine who came to me recently wondering why he just wasn't more successful at his business. He told me he was "doing everything he'd always done" but that he just wasn't seeing the kinds of results he thought he should be seeing.

Intrigued, I sat down with him and reviewed everything he was doing only to find out that indeed, he had been doing everything he'd been doing in the past. Only now he was producing much less pronounced results. He was still spending the same amount on advertising. He was still selling the same range of products and providing the same services, but something was certainly different, because his sales were off more than 20%.

I began investigating further by asking him a few simple questions about his business. First, I wanted to know if he really enjoyed what he was doing. Within moments, I had the answer I was after. After more than 10 years of doing the same thing day in and day out, he was ready for a change. He had grown tired of the business. His attitude had changed from enthusiasm to boredom. It just wasn't challenging to him any longer and he was in dire need of a change.

But he wasn't aware of his change in attitude, at least on a conscious level. It was only through asking him a series of questions that he began to realize that his passion had slipped away and his attitude was really not helping his business.

In fact, upon further questioning, I found out that his attitude was so poor at times, that he was actually opening his store late. He couldn't wait to get out at night and often times found himself turning away business so he wouldn't have to spend another 5 minutes in his store. Obviously, he'd begun creating bad rapport with his customers.

The problems didn't end there. His lack of passion for his business meant that he was always out of something because he was tired of taking inventory, tired of placing orders with his vendors, and he was lacking the drive to keep up with his business. It was subtle, but it made a tremendous impact on his bottom line. In the longer term, his lack of passion would have cost him his business.

This is what I call the psychology of success. It's knowing that what you are doing drives you. It's that passion that keeps you up late at night and makes it hard for you to shut down and go home for the weekend. But when you lose your drive, your passion, and your ability to keep up, that's a recipe for disaster.

What can you do to make sure your passion is in tact and you are always on top of your business in a way that makes your customers feel secure about doing business with you? Start by asking yourself what your business means to you.

Take note of your answers. Are they mostly positive responses, or do they tend to be negative? If they are mostly negative, are there things you can do to alleviate the negatives or even turn them into positives?

Do you associate feelings of fun to your business? What I mean is, instead of looking at how hard, tiring, or boring a task might be, do you try and find ways to make it fun? For instance, I used to hate taking my postage meter to the post office to fill it up with postage. So now, when I go to the Post Office, I buy myself a set of stamps that I use for my new stamp collection. Knowing that I am going to add to my stamp collection with each visit to the Post Office has made me want to go. My attitude is now totally different when I think of going to the Post Office!

Use your imagination. If you need a new desk to make yourself feel more interested in your business, buy a new desk. The cost of the desk, or the stamps in my case, is far outweighed by the additional profit you can derive by having the right attitude towards your business.

Whether you realize it or not, your psychology is reflected in everything you do. It's reflected in how you greet your clients. It's reflected in your employees. It's reflected in your advertising. And it's reflected to your vendors. I can't stress enough how important it is to be motivated, and even excited about your business. This one factor will make more of a difference in your business than a million dollars of marketing!

Until you try it for yourself, you'll never fully realize the power of the psychology of success. Do your own research and have a look at anybody whom you consider a success. Did they have a passion for what they were doing? You bet they did!

What if you really can't get yourself to that level of passion in your business? Maybe it's time to reconsider your choice of business or profession. If you understand that passion is the key to success and you're in a situation where you cannot be passionate, you've cut your chances of success down dramatically. It may be time to re-stack the odds in your favor and do something where passion is an everyday part of your life... not an exception.

(Mr. Imbriale is a nationally recognized business coach specializing in business development. He is an accomplished author and copywriter and his work has been published nationally in both consumer and trade publications.)