Raise that thermostat for your biz

I belong to a wonderful Virtual Assistant community called AssistU, and a couple weeks ago, its Southern California Chapter held a 2010 kick-off luncheon meeting. There were 6 of us, and we ended up talking and talking for well over 3 hours, discussing our business challenges and sharing great stories over authentic Chinese dishes. I happened to be the newest VA among the group, and learned so much from everybody. These are all professional ladies who take their business very seriously; the word “excuse” is simply not in their dictionary. They all hold super high standards.

Did I get motivated by talking to these ladies? You bet! Did the conversations with them help me stand taller as a business owner? Absolutely!! It was like raising the thermostat setting for my business. I realized then that I had probably started feeling a bit too comfortable about where I was in spite of my desire to grow my business by leaps. We all know that changes are not always comfortable, right?

Now that I own my business, I realize the importance of surrounding myself with the right people more than ever. Here are some ways that I discovered to do so to keep raising the biz thermometer:

1. Network with the right people. There are many ways to network with other business owners, but it’s also easy to end up networking with people who will not really help you grow. You should try surrounding yourself with people who are already where you want to be, or whom you can grow together with. Great places to find these people include seminars of your specific interests, social networking sites, or very specialized meetup groups.
2. Join or start a mastermind group with like-minded people. While many people are revisiting the knowledge shared in Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich these days, more and more mastermind groups seem to be popping up everywhere. I believe the key to joining/forming a mastermind group is to find members who are really willing to contribute to other members. Otherwise, it’s easy for the group meeting to turn into a “let me complain about my business” session, and that would simply be waste of time.
3. Find a coach. A coach will guide you to keep taking steps to get where you want to be. The right coach will always keep your best interest in mind and push you to constantly to raise your business standards.
4. If you are not sure about hiring a coach right now, start with finding an accountability partner. That could be your friend who is also trying to grow his/her business, or somebody who is a bit ahead of you in their business. Have a weekly call about business challenges and goals, and keep each other accountable for taking actual actions to get closer to those goals.

Then look into a mirror, and say to yourself, “I’m worth it,” because you are!