Confessions of a Business Owner #1: The “I Know” Attitude

Being an entrepreneur and business owner is not easy.  Most people start a business because they

think their current boss is an idiot and they could do it better.  Or maybe they’ve just taken over the business from a parent or family member.  In either case they are now in charge and they get to do things their way.

One of the first traps business owners fall into is not asking for help because they “know it all”, no one can do it better than I can.

In a recent conversation with a former client of mine Jeff Clarkson, he confessed to me that’s where he was at before we met.  He had been the owner and President of Florida Bonded Pools here is Jacksonville for over 10 years.  It was the oldest pool company in Jacksonville started by his father over 50 years ago.  

He had success in turning their struggling family owned business with 1 million in sales to a profitable company with sales ranging from 4.5 million to 6.5 million in annual sales.  But when the recession hit and the company started to feel the effects, he confided in other smaller business owners his struggles.

It was while having a cold beer during a gripe session with a friend of his (a current ActionCOACH client) that his friend recommended that he speak to me about how the ActionCOACH system could help him through his struggles.  Because as Jeff now confesses, he had the “I KNOW” attitude, it took him over a year to respond to that advice.

Success guru Jim Rohn summed it up best when he would say that you got to “Learn before YOU Earn”.  Man is like a tree, if he is not growing he is dying.  To grow we need to consistently fill our minds with new information, otherwise we get stuck doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.  If our cup is full and we feel we know it all, there is no room at the top of the cup for new information and new ideas.  This is where most of our struggles begin.

A lot of times when working with business owners it’s not about helping you do something new and different, it’s about helping you to get focused on the things that made you successful in the first place. 

In the day to day struggles of running a business it is easy to get off track and lose your focus of doing what you do best.  I can’t tell you how many times I hear my clients say after we discussed a new strategy, “We use to do that”.  The sad part is that they could never remember when they stopped doing that strategy.

When you hear yourself say I’ve heard that before or I know how to do that, you need to stop and think to yourself, “isn’t that interesting”.  When we say “isn’t that interesting” we are opening our minds to new ideas and new solutions.  My goal as a business coach is to get you to look at your situation from a different perspective to help you create powerful and actionable ideas to improve your business.

Once Jeff stopped and asked for help, he gave himself a bigger cup to fill.  He was able to initially start implementing and improving the things he knew about but hadn’t taken action on.  Plus his company began to get an “actionable” education that allowed them to measure, monitor and make better informed decisions that improved the business operations, sales and bottom line.

Confession #1:  Get rid of the I KNOW attitude

Because Jeff stopped and asked for help he was able to develop a more valuable company that was system based and not dependent on him.

If you would like to learn more about you too can get an "actionable" business education to improve your business's operations, sales, & bottom line contact ActionCOACH Steve Goranson at 904-739-0200. www.actioncoachjax.com

Steve Goranson has owned and operated the Northeast Florida of ActionCOACH since 2014. ActionCOACH is the World's #1 Coaching franchise with of 1000 offices in 50 different countries. They coach over 15,000 business each week.

Steve's commitment is to assist small business owners, to spend less time working "in" their business and more time working "on" their business so they can build a more valuable and sellable business. In the end, you’ll be spending less total time working, will be making more money and will have truly created the company and team you always dreamed of. In addition we will help you put the FUN back in your business and your life.

Call his office to schedule a free 1/2 hour Phone Strategy Session 904-739-0200