Take Control of Your Small Business

While reading Jack Canfield's book, The Success Principles - How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, I really resonated with his theory that Event + Response = Outcome and how so many solo entrepreneurs and small business owners need to adapt this mantra. In business, as in life, things happen to us that we can't control. However, we can control the outcome by controlling the response. In the book, Jack shares an example of a Lexus dealership where car sales halted because of the war in the Middle East. Now, this dealership could have continued to do the same thing they always did, put ads in the paper, radio and TV, but the change in response from their prospects had already proven this was no longer working. If they did continue along the same path, doing the same thing but expecting different results, the dealership would have experienced a slow but inevitable death. Understanding that they needed to change their reponses if they wanted to control the outcome, the dealership started bringing a fleet of cars to places that their ideal clients hung out; country clubs, golf courses, marinas and very high end neighborhoods. By bringing the product to the target market rather than waiting for them to come to the dealership, they were able to change their outcome dramatically.

How can this apply to your business?

1. Take stock in what is happening.
2. Accept you can't change the event.
3. Identify what you want as on outcome.
4. Take control of your response.

If you'd like to read how I took control of my life, please read my business blog at, Stand-Out-Results.com.