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To succeed in business (and life), there is one thing that’s constant:  CHANGE…This isn’t a rah-rah motivational blog about getting you moving, its simply about a “Constant Variable” (you like how I just used those both!) …which is CHANGE.  I could write the next 2 pages about the complete collapse of Toys R’ Us or rising interest rates but this is wayyy more important.

By way of example, Toys R’ Us was a casualty to the inability to CHANGE, not Amazon or ecommerce or high debt or VC…Yes, they borrowed too much money on an inflated value and ultimately could not get creditors to approve a restructuring because there was no turnaround in sight.  I grew up going to Toys R’ Us, took my own children there, bought many gifts for others and while I always walked out with something, the stores looked the same in 1994 as they were in 2018. Piled with STUFF in a chaotic way.

What prevents most people from CHANGE is FEAR…this is the real silent killer if you ask me.  Some think that if they are happy and healthy, why would you want change? You’re missing the point if you’re saying that, looking at it from a very granular level.  That is what I call having a “Delusion of Change,” meaning you think it won’t happen just because you’re satisfied with your current life. Seasons change, incomes change, relationships change, the car you drive changes, the shoes you wear…you get the point.

You have to accept CHANGE, embrace it, and control it as best as you can.  This is what creates growth…there is literally NO OTHER WAY. Once you realize and acknowledge that its constant, you will fear the change less and less.  Many people make general statements s about change but often don’t practice what they preach. I believe that in business you should actually seek out CHANGE, want it, and enjoy it.  Let me explain. Scenario 1 is that I grow my company to a multi-million dollar a year revenue producer in however many years it takes. I hit my plateau, where things are good and believe all I have to do is to “keep it going.”  This is DEFENSE. Scenario 2 is I grow the company comfortably to cover all annual expenses and stabilize and then I constantly am looking for alternative income methods, new clients, new ideas and never settling…this is called OFFENSE.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Fortune 500 company or a one-man operation, this rule and outlook applies to all.  When you do not believe it does, you end up like Toys R’ Us…PERIOD.

Start a business. Be your own boss. Make lots of money. Be the only one that controls your destiny. It all sounds great at the start. But then the reality sets in. Entrepreneurship is not as easy as it was made out to be, little things that looked easy turn out to be difficult, and the smallest setbacks look like mountains that are impossible to climb. So why do other self-starters seem able to overcome any obstacle? It all starts in the attitude.

The truth is that everyone faces roadblocks and setbacks when establishing themselves in any business. The ones that overcome them and succeed all have one trait in common: the ability to remain positive in the face of adversity.

This isn’t to say that you have to be happy and accepting when faced with, for example, an unexpected $1,000 repair bill. But a positive outlook from the “grand scheme of things” point-of-view will take the sting out of the invoice. Look at a one-time bill is a setback, and believe you will overcome it.

You have probably heard that attitude is everything in business, but you might not have given much thought to how this applies. Here is an example. Have you ever gone out for a meal, but the service was not up to your expectations? You could somehow “just tell” that the waitress would rather be anywhere but there? Did it affect how you tipped?

Your own enterprise is the same way. Employees, customers, and partners can all sense your attitude. Feel defeated? Everyone responds to it, whether they know it or not. Exude confidence, regardless of the situation? The people around you will feed off that confidence. Your employees will be more productive, and your customers will want to do business with you.

Self-confidence and positive thoughts are self-building entities, as long as you start with a kernel of them. When you believe in yourself and your potential for success, you have a greater capacity for realizing ideas, which leads to a greater capacity to bring them to fruition, which builds your positive attitude, which… well, you get the idea!

But what about those times when you just cannot see that light? How do you take yourself out of that darkness and back into positivity? Here are a few tips.

Spend some time thinking about what you want to accomplish, rather than how you failed. No venture is 100% successful. Instead of dwelling on what didn’t work, concentrate on fixing it to minimize the chances of it happening again.

Look to the future, not the past. Similar to the first suggestion, but this encompasses both the successes and failures. If you spend too much time on “It used to be so good,” that is less time you spend on figuring out how to make it good again, or even better than before.

Spread the weight. When you an’t see any solutions, it does not mean your partners, spouses, and employees can’t. Sometimes you are too close to the problem, and someone that is just slightly more removed can see an immediate answer that you overlooked.

Take some time. Most problems that are severe enough to affect your attitude are not things that require an immediate fix. Walk away from it for an hour, a day, or a weekend if you cannot see a solution. I guarantee the issue will still be at hand when you get back, and you might bring a new perspective back with you.

Don’t give up. It is the easiest thing to do, and probably the most common initial cause of any entrepreneurial failure. Once you stop believing, the rest of it crumbles around you. Until you give in, there is at least a kernel of positivity left.

In high times, low times, and every moment in between, your venture will be at its best when you infect it with your own positivity. That positivity will spread outward from you into an ocean of success.

Now go out there and take over the world; you know you can!

Some would say I expect too much out of what I read, watch, or listen to because I expect VALUE. This stems from how much I value my time and time in general. It is the most valuable commodity in mankind. We all have it, want more of it, and hope it never runs out but it does for everyone. Obviously, there are exceptions to always wanting VALUE such as a funny movie, which I haven’t watched in 5 years…. Warren Bufffet said “Price is what you pay for something, value is what you get out of something” ….I couldn’t agree more with the “Oracle from Omaha”…Now to be clear the “giver” of the value is as much responsible as the “receiver” extracting the value. What do I mean by that?

My whole business has been based on providing more, greater, and unmatched value to every transaction/situation. In this instance I am the giver of the value and have chosen to provide such value. I have created value for Tenants, Landlords, Sellers, and my partners. I am truly critical of my own self-responsibility to provide this value…that’s because I KNOW if I do not provide value than I have not met my responsibilities.

For the receiver, things aren’t as clear but they’re way more exciting. People try to monetize the value of something all the time. But sometimes the value you receive from something is impossible to quantify. The best part of value is it is LIMITLESS in terms of how much and how long it can last. If you went to a Tony Robins event in the 90’s and apply something you have taken from him to the success of your business that’s nearly 25 years of value being used over and over again.

In an era when every person believes they are an expert entrepreneur, motivational speaker, or master vlogger there is A LOT of substance out there to sift through but if processed the right way, there is more value than ever before right at your fingertips…

My commitment is to always try to provide value. That doesn’t mean I’m trying to change the world one conversation at a time but it DOES push you to fulfill more and give more in business and your life and has proven to attract more opportunities. From the other side, I ALWAYS try to spend time on things I think will provide me value, even in challenging deal-making circumstances or on deals that fall apart, what you learn from those experiences is the VALUE proposition.

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