Top Success-Limiting Factors

Working with business owners I have had a lot of opportunity to witness factors that limit a hard-working, focused visionary from being successful. As a business owner I know that we don’t often see this in ourselves so I’d like to give you one of the questions I give in my Progression Assessment and then I will give you the three factors I regularly see in my clients responses.

Answer this Question

What factors limit your success? (Include internal and external factors such as your own skills or industry requirements) Create a list and make it as long as it needs to be.

Not all limiting factors are in our control, but the top three I see that are in our control are:

1. Fear of Success
2. Fear of Failure
3. Unable to Relinquish Control

Fear of Success

This may seem counter-intuitive but it is very common. The biggest issue here is being thought of as a fraud. Many people, including myself, gain a huge portion of their expertise through experience, not formal education. Somehow our society has come to believe you can only claim to be an expert if you have letter after your name. That is not the only way. After several years of training, informal education, reading and working with business owners, along with unrelated formal education, I know I have insight and knowledge I could not have gained in a targeted traditional post-secondary program.

If you want to be successful then you have to live the success before you become successful. You need to believe it before anyone else will, and that includes your expertise.

Fear of Failure

No one likes to hear the word ‘No’. We all know in sales that the challenge is we will likely hear many more no’s then yes’s. The question is, how do we create an aura of success before we are successful and how do we recover from our rejections?

Surround yourself with peers that are at or just ahead of your success. You need people you can brainstorm with, share your challenges and your successes with, and create a team of people that will hold you accountable to reach the goals you set for yourself. Making it through failure is not a one-person job.

Unable to Relinquish Control

This one is quite easy for another person to see in you. When you complain about not being able to get things completed because of how much you have to do, ask yourself, “Who else could be doing this?” If you answered, “nobody” then you are likely delusional. There are very few jobs in the world that only one person can do. Even Oprah can get someone to fill in for her on the show named after her.

First, picture how  you see your company running in the future and then ask yourself this question every time you go to do any activity in your business: Is this a ‘me always job’ or a ‘me right now job’? If you are like Oprah and have your product rely on your namesake then you will have to have your face available to sell the product. But, like Michael E. Gerber or Jack Canfield, their coaching programs are sold based on their expertise, but out of the thousands of people that pay for their programs only a handful of people get one-to-one time with these experts.

Do you picture a business that can continue to grow? If so you have to narrow your ‘me always’ jobs to just one or two and start weaning yourself off of the “me right now” jobs.

Overcome these three limiting believes and you can start soaring in the growth of your business.