When most of us start our first home business, we have dreams of being rich, comfortable, safe, and free. We have a general idea of where we want to be financially, and we work hard to get there. Some of us get there quickly, while it might take others a bit longer. But when would we think of ourselves as "successful"? Once we're making a million dollars a year? When we have enough money to buy that big house we've been eyeing? As soon as we're...
When most of us start our first home business, we have dreams of being rich, comfortable, safe, and free. We have a general idea of where we want to be financially, and we work hard to get there. Some of us get there quickly, while it might take others a bit longer. But when would we think of ourselves as "successful"? Once we're making a million dollars a year? When we have enough money to buy that big house we've been eyeing? When we start to wear designer clothes? Success means something different to everyone, of course.
Maybe you think of success as making a little extra money to help pay for extras around the house. For me, it could mean making more money. For someone else, success might have nothing to do with money at all. They might want to do well at work or in their personal lives. People have different ideas about what it takes to be truly successful and what it means to be successful.
Last week, I did something interesting. I asked for work-from-home success stories to share on my website, and the response was really surprising. Not one response. That's right: nothing! I sent this request to several well-known work-at-home communities. I didn't limit what "success" meant on purpose. I was surprised by how few people replied. Are there NO successful people who work from home? I don't believe that for a second; I know there are a lot of people who work from home and do well. So why wouldn't they want to be highlighted? What could stop them from thinking they are a "success story"?
Income - Many of us don't feel "successful" until we're making a lot of money and can buy whatever we want without looking at the price tag. Money is a good indicator of success, but it's not the only one. Most of us have an idea of how much we'd like to make from our home businesses, but does that mean we're not successful until we get there? Of course not! We can do well no matter how much money we make. You're still successful even if you only make $500 a month instead of $50,000. Before you can make $50,000, you have to make $500.
Status: We may not feel like a success in our home businesses if we haven't yet reached the "level" we're aiming for. We say, "Once I have 1,000 customers, I'll be successful." Or when we have 100,000 people on our mailing list or hire our first employee. We set goals for ourselves and won't consider ourselves successful until we reach them, no matter what status we're trying to reach. The problem with this is that businesses, including home businesses, are not always the same. We don't just "get there" and then think everything is fine. We will always try to get more customers, find more agents, sell more products, make more money, set goals, and reach them. We will always be trying to do more and be more. This is something good!
Perfectionism: We are much harder on ourselves than we are on anyone else. Does one small thing make you feel like you're not a success? You may be making as much money as you want from your home business, but you may also be having trouble with some things. Like getting organised, managing money, or coming up with new ideas and following through with them. You let the little things you don't do perfectly stop you from thinking of yourself as successful. You tell yourself things like, "I'd be successful if my filing system wasn't so messy!" or "Will I ever figure out how to do this right?" Everyone has flaws. Everyone is good at some things and not so good at others. Accept that you are that way. It's not really necessary to do everything so well. We can only do the best we can and have fun.
Modesty - It's true that nobody likes a braggart. People who saw my request might not have sent me a success story because they didn't want to seem too proud or cocky. Even though being humble is a good thing, is it possible to be too humble? Does being humble mean we can't be proud of what we've done? Does that mean we need to hide how successful we are? No. There is a big difference between telling others about our successes and bragging about them. People who brag try to make themselves look better than others and put themselves on a pedestal, while people who share their success in a genuine way try to inspire others. By telling people about our successes, we hope to inspire them to have their own. We show that it is possible to do well when you work from home. What a wonderful gift!
You might be surprised to find out what the real meaning of Success is: 1) a good outcome; 2) the getting of money, fame, etc. Most of us are more likely to use the second meaning than the first. But look closely at the first meaning. A favourable result. How simple is it to get a good result? Very! Even if your results aren't as big as you'd like, that doesn't mean you haven't done well. If you've had ANY good results, you've been successful.
The most important thing about being successful is that we believe we deserve it. So many of us feel like we're not good enough. Some of us were told as kids that we'd never amount to anything, and we took that to heart and still carry it with us today. Others might not try because they think we're not "good enough." As soon as we start working toward our goals, self-doubt creeps in and our inner critic starts nagging us: "Who do you think you are? You're not good enough to be successful. Stop doing that and get a real job!" So we hurt ourselves, put up roadblocks, and keep going in our never-ending search for success.
The truth is that we will only be as successful as we ALLOW ourselves to be. The mind is a very powerful thing. What we tell ourselves over and over again is what will happen in our lives. If we don't think we deserve success, we won't go after it, even if we fool ourselves into thinking we are. If we tell ourselves we're not good enough, we'll act in ways that keep good things from happening to us. The good news is that this works the other way around, too. We will be successful if we tell ourselves we are. If we tell ourselves over and over again that we are good enough, strong enough, and capable enough, we will be. Think about how important that is. It means that WE CAN DO EVERYTHING. We can be anything we want to be.
Don't be afraid to celebrate your success, even if you think it's small. Remember, any favourable result equals Success!
