Success: What’s in Your Way? 

Have you wondered why your income hasn't grown as fast as you thought it should? I’ve been in the same position and know it can be a frustrating situation with thought patterns that can sap your drive for success. 

The first thing you should acknowledge is that if it were easy, the whole world would be rich. The second thing to figure out is what makes it so hard to bring this ambition to completion. 

In the process of evaluating my own situation and those of clients, I have identified the five most common barriers that keep people from becoming successful and acquiring true wealth. Wouldn’t you like to navigate around these road blocks and be numbered among the rich? Well, I am going to help you gain some momentum in that direction. 

Understand, that “being rich” means different things to different people. Do you aspire to be intellectually rich, spiritually rich, personally rich, or financially wealthy? All of these things sound good, but can be so elusive at times!

Good news, people!

The good news is that you’ve discovered me, and I’m going to help you detour right past the pitfalls so you can get on with reaching your goals. You will learn what your barriers are – what is keeping you from being a person who tastes life’s riches. 

By identifying these road blocks ahead of time, you will be able to take the business bypass around the very things that will get your competition stuck in traffic. While they continue to slam into roadblocks, you and your business will be able to get light years ahead of them. 

As you know, many people are using GPS gadgets to help them navigate when driving from Point A to Point B. That’s similar to what I do in my job. I take clients from where they are in their businesses today, right now, and help them head for their ultimate destination, skirting the five major road blocks to which I have already alluded. If you use my advice like a GPS, your journey will be more straightforward and less apt to take you through unpleasant territory. 

Self-sabotage! 

Some of you reading this have already made up your mind that you will never be rich. This type of thinking is the first roadblock. If you have convinced yourself that it’s not possible to attain wealth, then you are absolutely right. I think you attract what you believe in, and if you have already closed yourself to the possibility of wealth then there will be no way (no matter what you do) you will ever be rich. Opportunities will stare you in the face, but you will remain blind to them. 

However, if you truly believe that you can get rich regardless of your current situation or the obstacles that life throws your way, I think you will attract all that you desire. So, the biggest roadblock is often not an outer force, but rather something that resides in your own mind. You have to embrace the possibility of generating wealth and, of course, do some work. 

No. 2 is not much prettier! 

The next ugly roadblock is an inner one, too. Your own self-image can be a big hindrance. Anyone can get richer, but it is the battle that goes on within you that will keep you from achieving your full financial potential. You see we can only be as successful as our self-image will allow us to be. 

Let me illustrate. As a solo-preneur you are working your tail off, doing marketing, attending meetings, doing tele-seminars and so on. You get tired and find yourself wondering, “Why am I not making the money that I want to make? Why has it not happened for me yet?”

If you are struggling and the results you want are not happening fast enough, it simply means you have an inner battle between your conscious and your subconscious going on. Your subconscious is sabotaging your success. On some level, you just might feel you are not worthy of success beyond a certain point.

Time to Clean House! 

So, it’s not about working harder or even faster. It’s about doing a little spring cleaning from the inside out, chucking your self-limiting beliefs so that there’s room for success. 

Self-limiting beliefs include things such as thinking you’re a failure if your marketing campaign doesn’t produce the return on your investment as you had hoped, or thinking you’ll be too overwhelmed to handle new clients even if the marketing campaign does work. 

When your conscious mind thinks you want something, but your subconscious mind thinks you don't deserve it, you will fail at getting what you want. Instead you will actually attract only what your subconscious feels is right for you. 

Now Some Good News 

On the other hand, once you clear this inner battle you start getting better results almost immediately. So, kick these inner roadblocks out of the way by identifying them and rejecting them (on a daily basis, if you must), and then stretching your subconscious to believe you are worth a vastly larger annual income than you currently generate. 

OK, you are ready to take on the third barrier. This goes a little deeper, so I need to ask a pretty personal question. Do you have religious beliefs that are keeping you from attaining wealth? 

Many people think the desire for money is the root of all evil. I think the operative phrase there is “desire for money,” meaning wanting to accumulate wealth for its own sake and for selfish reasons. Working hard to look after one’s family, friends and oneself, as well as having a means to make a difference elsewhere is an entirely different thing. 

A well-intentioned person with financial backing can do many great things! My advice is to examine your heart to get past this roadblock. Why don’t you make a list of what you will do with your financial gain to help others? What charitable foundation would you love to start? I say, “Dream big! Plan big!” 

A Four-letter Word 

The fourth barrier to getting rich? DEBT. How do you think you can possibly become wealthy if you are in consumer debt up to your earlobes? 

Unfortunately, this roadblock is one with which too many people struggle. It is at the heart of our shaky economy. Consumer debt is extremely dangerous, and it’s a vicious cycle that must be broken. 

You need to become free from debt. It’s as simple as that. How do you accomplish this? Listen closely. CUT UP ALL YOUR CARDS and pay in cash for everything from now on. Did I say that plainly enough? 

This is Not a Game 

I’m not here to play games with you. I am doing you a kindness by being straight with you. Consumer debt affects all areas of your life. It causes stress, and stress – as you know – puts a lot of pressure on loved ones. I strongly urge you to avoid debt (i.e. running up credit card bills because you can’t afford something you really, really want…so you buy it on credit and, thanks to compound interest, it ends up costing you three times as much as the original price tag.) Listen to me. Keeping up with the Joneses requires keeping up with their debt, too! Bad idea. Very bad idea. 

You will not get ahead financially until you eliminate that debt. …I hear some of you…and, yes, you can get out of debt. It’s that negative self-talk again! Remember, if you put your heart, mind and energy into something, it’s going to happen. Don’t hang up the towel! Instead, make a plan and stick to it. Get yourself out of debt. Do you hear me? End of rant. 

Fear Not! 

The fifth barricade to success is a biggie. It’s another four-letter word in my book. Are you ready? It’s a nasty one: “FEAR.” 

Is fear stopping you from achieving your dreams? Fear paralyzes some people. They stop all action because they can’t decide what to do; they fear the consequences of making a wrong choice. Instead, they do nothing. This roadblock is a tough one, and you will need to be willing to fight it with all your inner strength in order to overcome it. 

Fear has prevented more people from getting rich than any other roadblock. However, let’s not focus on the doom and gloom. This barrier – like all the others – can be broken down. 

Tell It Like It Is 

What is fear? Fear is nothing more than a state of mind. Some fear success, failure, rejection, doing it wrong, hearing someone saying, “No,” and even the self-examining question “What am I worth?” 

For example, when solo-preneurs want to grow their business, but fear rejection, they step back from the action. Fear keeps them from marketing themselves, going in for a sale, attending networking meetings and collaborating with colleagues. Hence, the flow of new clients slows to a trickle and business stagnates. 

So…which of these fears do you have? 

You are not alone. Every successful person has suffered some failures while building his or her empire. However, the difference is that those failures didn't stop them from trying again and again until they got it right. In other words, they overcame obstacles in their way by turning their fears into power. 

Facing the Giants 

When you face your giants head on, all sorts of amazing things can happen. Name them – fear of rejection, fear of criticism, fear of failure – feel them, and then just do it! 

I’ve had some of those fears, and I still deal with them on occasion. The key is becoming aware of the underlying reasons for things like procrastination or laziness. Very often, the underlying roots are a tangle of fears. That fear, I have found, is what often keeps a person from action and reaping its rewards. 

If for some reason you cannot get past your fears alone, then consider becoming part of a mastermind group or hiring the services of a coach who can help you get beyond them. We delve deeper on how to face and conquer these giants in my Maverick program. Once they have been conquered, you will experience freedom from fear and see more paying clients. You will see more success and fulfillment, which will enable you to experience a satisfying wealth that goes far beyond monetary riches.

You can overcome any obstacle or roadblock, and grow rich!   It is important for you to know that these and other roadblocks may exist in your mind. And its imporant to know that you can break down any barrier that comes your way. They are mental barriers, not real barriers. If they exist in your mind and you think they're real, they'll bury you. If you dismiss them as "rubbish", they won't exist anymore! There is NOTHING that can get in your way unless, you let it.

Now, if the struggle is just about a lack of IMPLEMENTATION and you don't know how to set up systems for your daily operations, or what to automate and outsource (even if you are on a shoe string budget), I invite you to invest in your success by becoming a member of my Female Solopreneur Monthly club. Every month I share with you tools that you need to put in place so you can run your business more efficiently and produce more revenue while requiring less of your time.