A common question I get from new or struggling coaches is this: “When did YOUR business really take off? What happened that brought you here?” I LOVE this question. =) I chuckle because while I’ve come a very long way in business, I know my goals… and I know I have SO MUCH FARTHER to go.
But mainly, I love it because it allows me to fully expose a huge, ugly hurdle that tripped me up way too many times — and kept me stuck for way too long — in my own business: The “white knight” hurdle.
The question is great, but it reveals a core belief that “one day” “SOMETHING” will “happen to” your business that will explode your brand and bottom line. YUCK. On three different levels, YUCK.
- “one day” — One day is not a day of the week. One day never comes. The only day you have to “explode your business and brand and bottom line” is today. Do not wait for one day. Also, there is NOTHING that can happen in “one day” that is more important than what you do EVERYDAY in your business. It’s the small, deliberate, everyday, unglamorous actions you take TODAY that will propel you forward.
- “Something” –– Ah, the white knight of business… the “something big” that we dream will take us out of our home office of obscurity and propel us into the limelight and “big leagues.” Grow up, Peter Pan. =) Sometimes big breaks happen, and these are great… but a) do not depend on them any more than you “depend” on the lottery to pay your bills and b) do not forget it is YOUR JOB to create all of the “somethings” that will move your business forward.
- “happen to” — Few things will ever actually “happen to” your business. Your business is your own creation. You need to be making things “happen FOR” your business, your market, and your brand. In short, as Steve Chandler says,
“No one is coming.
It’s up to you.”
In answer to your question… I don’t know. There certainly wasn’t a day that I can look back on and say, THAT was my huge moment. Instead, there were lots of little moments… you know, those moments that make you smile and think, “HOLY CRAP…I’m really on to something here.” There were some MUCH appreciated affirmations along the way that I was creating something special. There were definitely some fist-pump-in-the-air moments that I couldn’t wait to tell my Mom about. There was that moment my Mister gave me his “blessing” to begin traveling for my business, the email from a member in Texas who saw me in her Houston Business Journal, and even I had no idea I was published there. These moments are special, but it’s the COLLECTIVE of these actions, moments and small wins that explode your business. In short, the “big break” theory is a farce, a fiction…. much like the white knight.
