This is Barry mold still getting small business stuff. One of the biggest places that you're stuck in your business is you're thinking that you got to take this gigantic risk to get even bigger awards. You think back on some of those well worn examples like Steve Jobs and what he did with Apple or Elon Musk with how he built Tesla. And you think back on James Dyson with Dyson vacuum cleaners, how he had 5127 prototypes, he owed the bank $4 million, had multiple mortgages on his house, and now he's a billionaire. Those examples are really few and far between. You're also stuck because you think You've got to take swift action.

And one of the reasons you do it is because you want to satisfy your ego. In fact, admit to yourself that you actually hold a chip on your shoulder a little bit of a grudge while you're doing business. And unfortunately, you put your personal agenda above the needs of the business. In fact, you're trying to prove something to someone. In fact, if you could fill in the phrase, you're trying to prove something to somebody, it's probably your mother or your father or an old friend or an old adversary. That's unfortunately, what is driving you.

You're also stuck because somewhere along the line, you think that your life is going to be different, you're going to have a big bold life like that musical Pippen. You also don't realize that too much money in your business can actually make you stupid. Now, that may sound kind of silly, but time and time again, we've seen is People that have had too much money in their business actually don't use their brainpower, but end up wasting it. You're also stuck because you think there are cause and effect relationships between everything in your business. So for example, you think that just because the leading salesperson makes 100 phone calls a week that everybody else should make 100 phone calls a week, it doesn't mean that those hundred phone calls a week are actually making him the top salesperson. Remember, big risks fail most of the time.

In fact, small businesses go out of business by 50% in the first three years, and it's even higher in a retail business. And failing isn't just for small businesses. big businesses fail all the time. Think back on the apple Newton. Think about Harley Davidson. perfume.

What about lifesaver soda? And corps water. And this is one I don't get was a huge failure. Colgate entrees? Would you like to put Colgate entrees into your mouth? In order to get unstuck, you can't fear failure.

And the way you do that is not by taking these risks. But taking small steps, instead of gigantic leaps to get to really where you want to go think about sailing is that as a sailor, when they want to take the boat from one point to the next, sometimes they can't go into a straight line. What they need to do is they have to tack they have to first go to the right, then go to the left, and then go to the right. They make progress in a zigzaggy kind of manner to get there where they want to go. Success belongs to those that take patient interim steps in order to get unstuck. You also need to remember that famous quote from cowboy Will Rogers that says, When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you got to do is stop digging.

And unfortunately, so many small business owners don't do this because they think they can either grow their way out of that hole, or they can borrow their way out. And many times, it doesn't work, you got to know, as Kenny Rogers says, When to hold them and when to fold them. You also have to be able to change direction. If you don't succeed at first, you got to try something else. This worked out perfectly for my client and friends, Scott Jordan, he started over a decade ago, technology enabled clothing, or he had products called Scotty vest. He got a lot of success when he reimagined the company, really as a travel clothing company, instead of just a technology based company.

In fact, when I started my third business, we had a mail order catalog. When we're selling scientific products, I never thought about letting the products that we distributed those companies advertised in our catalog until someone asked us to do it. And in the end, that revenue ended up being about 35% of our total sales. You've got to be able to check your ego at the door if you're going to unstuck forget about Donald Trump and all his great pronunciations and all his great ways of saying you're fired. Think more of Zappos and Tony Shea, think about what is the real reason behind your action. If every time I asked you that question, if you come up with, I want, again, it's not about you.

Your employees really don't want to serve you, but they want to serve a higher purpose. They want to have a common goal. If you talked about the folks at Apple that worked for Steve Jobs, He wasn't a very nice guy to work with. But why did they stay because they had a larger goal. They love the products that we're creating, and how they're actually changing the world. You've got to take patient interim steps in order to get unstuck here, think about what the success and failure look like.

So you won't be surprised when you get there. Whatever steps you take have to be traceable, and trackable, and repeatable so you know what works and what doesn't work. Don't simply label an outcome success or failure, but simply its result. When you get that result, learn what you can, and then take another action to get to where you want to go. There's plenty of people, plenty of companies out there that we know that have really changed their path, or some people say pivot to become very, very successful. Think of Nokia, the famous cell phone manufacturer They started out over 100 years ago making rubber tires and rubber boots.

Think about the ball Corporation, the five ball brothers, ball Corporation now aerospace, but of course they're famous for the ball jar. And now we come to Nintendo. They didn't start out making video games, they actually start out making playing cards. These companies were able to change the direction over a long period of time. And you have to do that too, if you're going to get stuck. So again, how are you going to strive for minimal achievement?

And what's the one change you're gonna make in this area to get to where you want to go? This is Barry mole still getting small businesses unstuck. Have a great day.