Survival in business is sometimes difficult. Take a look at what’s going on right now as we speak. The environment is ripe for businesses to either succeed or fail. Statistics reveal that the first year in business, 20% of small business owners fail, which means for every 10 that started up in January, two of them are dust by December of that year.
My own experience in business to say the first year was not easy, would be an understatement. I started my coaching practice in 2012 and about a year in the business was doing pretty well. In April of 2013, we were set up to go to a conference with many other coaches to work on our 90-day plan. I was pumped up. My mind was right. I had lots of appointments set up for that month ahead. I was ready to rock, until the phone rang 11:30 that night, the night before the conference. It was my wife to tell me that my brother had just committed suicide.
This news absolutely, positively rocked my boat. I went to the conference the next day to hang out with like-minded individuals as long as I could until I knew at some point, I would break of which I did which preceded a long drive home. Once home, I quickly made my plans to fly to Rhode Island to be with my family and bury my brother.
After spending time with my family up north, I came back to Florida thinking, “Well, my whole family lives in Rhode Island. I’m in Florida. Out of sight, out of mind. It’s not really going to affect me that much.” Boy, was I wrong!
Within several months, I went from several clients to one. Personally, I was in a very, very, very dark place. I couldn’t perform personally, never-mind perform for my clients. I was in trouble. However, I made one decision that was the smartest decision I ever made. I called my organization Action Coach and shared with them that I was going down, that I needed help and I couldn’t do it alone.
They assigned me a Master Coach. That coach guided me week in and week out, both professionally and personally to get back to where I needed to be, my best. I’ll tell you that it was a difficult journey. However, a little bit more than two years later, I was up on stage receiving an award at our Coaches & Clients Award Conference. I also had a client up on stage as the young entrepreneur of the year.
The harder you bounce a ball off the ground, the higher it’ll bounce back. In my journey, I bounced back pretty well. I will tell you, as I look back at that journey, as difficult as it was, it made me who I am today. It made me realize why I coach. It made me realize the only difference between me and my brother is I put my hand out when I needed help and he did not.
In business, it’s no different. Running a business alone is difficult. If you’re one of those that has the ego that says, “I got it, I can do it, I’m good, I don’t need help.” It’s going to be a tough journey. I do understand that some of you are brilliant and you possess all the tools to do it right by yourself, God bless you. But there are many business owners that just cannot do it alone. We will get stuck. We cannot see our blind spots. You are going to be challenged day in and day out. And to have a mentor, someone to guide you, to ask you the difficult questions, to get you to see the things you cannot see, to make the shifts you need to make, to go where you need to go, is priceless.
I will tell you from my own experience, it changed my life. Ever since that day, I’ve had coaches in my business continuously guiding me both personally and professionally to become the best I could possibly be for myself, my business, my family, my clients, and my community. There’s an old saying, two heads are better than one. It’s not only true, but it is also absolutely necessary to reach infinite intelligence and learn everything that ever was, that is and ever will be. Where do you think the best ideas come from? It’s when two people are in harmony in a conversation directed towards the same outcome. That’s where all the great ideas come from.
I encourage you all. If you have a coach, God bless you, keep it up. If you don’t, I strongly encourage you to find a coach, find a mentor, whether it’s me or somebody else, to help guide you to become the best you can possibly be. I know from personal experience I could never have made this journey without the assistance of my coaches.
I encourage you. Reach out, drop the ego, open up, the infinite intelligence universe will attach to you, get you the right person to guide you. And you may one day also be up on stage and reap your rewards.