***Are You A Control Freak In Your Business?

It seems like most of my life I’ve expended a great deal of energy and attention on trying to control others and everything around me. I kept a diary growing up. One entry read, “My mom got mad at me today. I’m going to promise to be a better person so she won’t get mad at me next time. This is what I’m going to do: I’m going to do my chores around the house without being asked, do my homework and I’m going to be really nice to everyone in my family.” I somehow thought that keeping my mother happy was the secret to success as a child (don’t get me wrong, I had a great mother!). Fast-forward 30 years, after starting my own business I realized that I was still attempting to control everything that occurred in my business. Every action was motivated by trying to achieve a particular result. I talked to prospects in a way that I thought would “get” them to hire me. I wrote articles and sales copy in the way that others were writing to “get” people to buy my products and services. My internal mantra and modus operandi was, “Just tell me what I need to DO to make more money and get more clients and I’ll do it!” I had a breakthrough when I realized that all my attempts to control and manipulate prospects and clients to make more money was leaving me mentally exhausted and drained. And besides that, it plain just didn’t work. Ironically, when I gave up trying to run my business from a place of egoic control I experienced a phenomenal breakthrough. I more than doubled the highest amount I had ever grossed in a single month. Today’s Reminder… * Here’s a gentle reminder that you can tell yourself to support you in integrating this powerful concept in your business today. It’s hard for me to let go of trying to control the outcomes in my business. And yet I realize at some level I am completely powerless over whether prospects hire me or if my marketing and efforts to attract clients is successful. Today I am willing to release running my business from my ego. Even though I may need the money and might be worried about how I am going to pay the monthly bills this – or next month’s bills for that matter, I am willing to surrender and trust that I will be guided in the moment to the next best course of action. “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao TzuM