There are basically two kinds of people in the world.

First there are those who prefer to have no worries or burdens from work that extend beyond the 9-5. They want to show up, do their job, make their money, and go home and enjoy their evenings and weekends.

And then there are the entrepreneurs. The idea of working for someone makes their skin crawl. Following a boss’s orders makes them feel rebellious. And not being in control of their future horrifies them. Oh, and the idea of not being able to design their own day makes them feel endlessly trapped.

Okay okay, I’ll admit I’m simplifying things quite a bit, but that aside, there IS some truth to what I’m sharing here and I know that those of you who ARE working to build your own businesses can absolutely relate to my ramblings.

So given the strong desires of our passion-driven entrepreneurs to help others, change the world, and create a freedom based lifestyle (along with their inherent distaste of taking orders from others) – why do they seem to give up their dreams so easily when the going gets tough (and the going ALWAYS gets tough)?

Let me explain…..

Not a day goes by in our business that we don’t get an email or see a post in our Facebook community group where someone is upset about things not working out in their current promotion, the income they thought they would be making is not happening, business is slow, life just threw them a huge curve-ball, family issues have come up (divorce, illness, etc), or some other kind of crisis.

As a result, their business comes to a screeching halt and they either quit their business or put it aside – or they switch gears in their business because they think what they are doing is not working (it only works for those “other” people) and they put all their attention on the next holy grail that everyone is talking about.

After over 35 years of owning my own businesses these are the five most critical elements I feel you MUST have to succeed:

1. Develop Tenacity & Focus

No matter what has transpired in my private life I have never let go of my dreams. Even if I could not focus full time on what I wanted to create I always delegated some time every day to my desires. That means that even when my dad was dying, when my step-dad was having 7 surgeries, through my divorces (yeah, there were two of those), when I moved home to help my parents and lived with them for 5 years, and when my travel company almost tanked during the recession and Covid – I never stopped working on my passion.

In other words, I have never ALLOWED anything external to me to get in the way of my dreams. If you are doing this, I encourage you to rethink your strategy because even if you work one hour a day on your creation – at the end of a year’s time you will have worked 365 hours! That’s a lot of time!! For sure you will be closer to your dream than if you did nothing and said “I’ll get back to it when things are calm, better, resolved” or whatever you are telling yourself.

Believe me – life will ALWAYS throw obstacles your way and it never gets any better than RIGHT NOW to take action to make those dreams come true. Putting your business aside for other things makes you lose momentum which is a critical for success.  And the excuse of you not having any time is not an excuse. There is always ONE hour in the day. I’ve had a challenging life in so many ways so I understand what it is like to be hit upside the head by the cosmic two-by-four over and over again – but if you want your dreams to come true you have to stop self-sabotaging yourself by allowing everything in life to get in your way.

2. Educate Yourself Wisely

I know many of you know the power of widening your skill set and that is excellent. However – it’s important to be VERY discerning about which courses and coaching programs you choose to take along the way. And for those of you who love to jump in and do stuff and like to learn from your mistakes – I want to encourage you to adjust that strategy. And here’s the why’s for both of these situations.

There are so many great courses and coaching programs out there that are truly awesome (goodness knows how many courses I own and how many coaching programs I have been in). But for us folks who love learning, it is important to purchase programs that share a skill-set that we know is going to take our business to the next level NOW. So when I was about to launch my program for the first time I knew I had to learn how to do Facebook ads so that is what I registered for – not a program on how to create a membership program even if I DO want to do that in the future. That goes on my wish list for when I am ready.

For those of you who love to jump in and learn through experience I can tell you that your business will grow 100% faster if you take the time to get educated. You will avoid so many errors that will end up costing you WAY more time and money in the end. In addition, I see this as a huge branding issue. Do you want your clients to see that you do things in a half-ass way? Do you think that is going to help you command premium pricing for the transformation you share? No it won’t. People are watching everything you do and it reflects on how people perceive you. So do things correctly and to the best of your ability the first time because otherwise it might be your last time!

3. Change Your Relationship with Your Mind

We all have it. Twenty-four hours a day every day. That unending. Ever present. Litany of internal dialog that commands our attention and often steals our dreams.

It sounds something like this:

“I better do that pile of laundry, oh did I pick up that prescription at the pharmacy yet, I have to get back to those two people who called me yesterday, I would love to write that article for my blog today – what if I do it on X subject although I don’t know why I should since no one is reading what I post, let me just pop over to Facebook and see what’s going on for a minute, darn let me answer those emails before it gets too late, I don’t know why I am bothering to do that webinar next week because I know no one’s going to show up, I’m never going to make a good living doing this maybe I should listen to my honey and just get a job again….”

For goodness sake! It’s enough to drive a person crazy.  Seriously.

So this is what’s helped me deal with any crazy, circular, and/or negative self-talk. Rather than insulting myself and treating myself like crap by telling my mind to shut up or cursing myself (I spent plenty of years doing that, so self-abuse is no longer allowed or tolerated), I allow my mind to express its point of view and then I firmly and lovingly refocus it.

For example, if my mind tells me something is scary and I can’t do it, I let my mind know that it’s okay to be scared but we are going to take this action anyway because we want to. And although it may say I will fail, things won’t work out, it’s too scary, I hate it, or whatever – I do it anyway.

Action in the face of adversity is one of the most important skills any entrepreneur can develop and that begins with using it to deal with our own mind.

I’m scared all the time, but my desire to transcend my limitations and be everything I can be in this lifetime gives me the strength to manage my fears and negative self-talk in a healthy and productive way. And I encourage you to learn to do the same because you CAN do this!

4. Learn to Recognize Root Cause

Often when we do something in our business, if we don’t get the outcome we want, we assume that no one wants what we have to share, they are not interested, and it’s not going to happen for us, etc. But this is NOT necessarily the correct conclusion to make. In other words, you are not properly evaluating the action-reaction and root cause for this situation.

For example, if you let your list know that you were doing a webinar and no one showed up, you could end up coming to the conclusion that the topic was not a good one and never do it again. But the real reason no one showed up COULD HAVE BEEN that your wording was not compelling, you did not speak to your tribe in the language they think in, you did not send enough emails out letting them know about the opportunity, and/or you did not make the benefits of attending crystal clear – as well as letting them know what they would get out of attending your class. These issues require a totally DIFFERENT set of actions to correct them than never running your webinar again!

If you do not evaluate the root cause of the outcome properly, you are not going to take “right action” and you will keep making the same mistakes over and over again – perhaps finally coming to the conclusion that this is not for you and you cannot succeed. And goodness knows that would be the WRONG conclusion to make! One that could put the kibosh on your dreams and shrivel your soul.

To make sure this isn’t the case, always get feedback from people who are experienced and can guide you in learning how to see the REAL problems that are going on in your business. Doing so will keep you excited about your business, you’ll be successful faster, and you won’t be wasting your time on actions that are not going to get you the outcome you want!

5. Manage Your Expectations

Many of us look at all the successful people in our niche and wonder how they became so successful so fast – how did they get so lucky and why can’t that happen for us? Well here’s the truth.

It didn’t happen for them overnight and in all likelihood it’s not going to happen for you overnight either. Of course we only see those folks once they are in the limelight and it seems like it magic when in fact it took years of tenacity, focus, mental stamina, lots of education, and mentoring to get them to that place.

For example, I am blessed to have built a 7-figure business in only 3 years and have seemingly come of out of no-where. But did I? Well – of course not. I have had a lot going on in my personal life that needed tending to over the years and there was preparation time where I was learning about the whole coaching sector (which is very different from practicing medicine which I did for 18 years) as well as time spent putting important structures into place.

And trust me, I have the patience of a pea and want everything NOW! But being in business my whole adult life has forced me to learn how to balance my unrealistic expectations with the need for clear strategic actions laid out in a linear fashion allowing me to get from point A to point B in the most efficient manner.

This is critical because without a business plan you will waste time, have more of an opportunity to get discouraged, suffer financially, as well as creating a situation for yourself where you are spending more time on details than helping people and living your purpose.

And that is NOT the road you want to be traveling down!

In the end, the most important tidbit I can share with you is to believe in yourself and your dreams. You are amazing and you can accomplish anything you set your attention on. And I know that because you are not any different than I am. <3

Don’t forget to post below and let me know what you think about all this! 🙂

To your wanderlust life, Sheri

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Dr Sheri Rosenthal is known as one of the most sought after retreat strategists for coaches, speakers, and authors — and is the owner of Journeys of the Spirit Travel®, a boutique agency specializing in the planning and management of group travel.

Through her Wanderlust Entrepreneur Community and her signature course, The Retreat Blueprint Program, she has taught thousands of facilitators how to design exceptional retreats that allow them stand out in their niche. She is famous for helping clients plan, fill, and profit from transformational retreats that change lives in a huge way while adding serious income to their bottom line!